Kim Dong-ho, back to BIFF

Kim Dong-ho, chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Busan International Film Festival / Courtesy of Kim Dong-ho

• Published Jun 8, 2016 6:43 PM KST
• Updated Jun 8, 2016 6:43 PM KST

By Kim Ji-soo

Everyone loves movies, including Kim Dong-ho, founder and now chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Busan International Film Festival.

“As they say, movies are the summation of the creative efforts of people in their respective fields,” said Kim, giving a standard definition of movies when asked what they mean to him. Then, the former veteran administrator and director disclosed a bit more. “For me, movies are the medium that allowed me to start the second chapter of my life,” he said.

Kim, 79, has returned to the film festival he cofounded and headed for 15 years, perhaps, to give back to the medium and the festival itself. BIFF, which will enter its 21st year in October, ran into a major crisis last year. International film festivals sometimes run into disagreements with governments about freedom of expression, and BIFF was not an exception.

The crisis centered around the film “Diving Bell,” a documentary that focused on the maker of the diving bell that was involved with the Sewol ferry, which sunk en route to Jeju Island in 2014, killing more than 300, including many high school students on a field trip. The tragedy plunged the nation into deep grief and soul-searching, as poor management of such ships and the perceived lax government response came under intense scrutiny.

Kim said the movie should have been shown ― as it later was in 2014 ― but the friction between the Busan Metropolitan Government and the Busan Film Festival organizing committee enlarged the problem.

“I did not want to accept this post, as I hold myself morally responsible (for the crisis at the film festival) too,” Kim said during an interview with The Korea Times in his office at Doosan Art Hall near Dongdaemun, Seoul. “But the festival must be held; it must go on,” Kim said.

“The Diving Bell was a film that had a certain, one-sided viewpoint, and the problem worsened because of the controversy over whether to show it or not,” Kim said. “The crisis was that the freedom of expression was sharply repressed when it should not have been.”

The movie was screened regardless of Busan city government’s position that it not be screened, and in the following year, audit of BIFF organizing committee and consequent indictment of four committee officials including Lee Yong-kwan followed. The four face trial now.

“There are similar instances at other international film festivals, like the Hong Kong festival with the omnibus film Ten Years made by five young directors, and at the Istanbul Film Festival,” he said. “The Hong Kong festival allowed the showing of the film in question, while the Istanbul Film Festival did not show Bakur, which is about the lives of the PKK an armed organization that fights for a separate Kurdish state, resulting in a jury protest and eventual reduction in aid from the European Union.

“But film festivals must uphold their rights to freedom of expression; this is crucial,” Kim said.

The repercussions of the controversy over “Diving Bell” continue with the opening of the festival this year thrown into question as many in the film industry wanted to ensure the festival’s independence in writing in its charter, while the city government does not see it that way. Kim accepted the job after initially declining the offer; he was afraid that the festival might not open if he did not.

As a “civilian” chief of BIFF, Kim hopes the message that he will work to ensure the independence of Asia’s top film festival have been sent out. Because the city government finances 50 percent of the festival’s budget, it had considerable sway, and the mayor had automatically assumed Kim’s post.

With the BIFF only four months away, he has a lot to do.

“I have to talk to Busan, and I have to talk to the film industry people,” Kim said. The film industry is demanding an apology from Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo and a revision of the charter. “But my strengths lie in talking and persuading,” Kim said. He will be working closely with veteran actress Kang Soo-hyun, who is the festival’s co-executive director. He said the key to his persuasive powers is his sociability. Kim said he has been fortunate to win over people by showing the sincerity of his relationships with them, like when he travelled to Hawaii to attend the wedding of a film organizer, visited a journalist in Amsterdam for his 70th birthday and visited a film critic in Britain after surgery.

Kim is known for his ability to network and to keep in touch with film industry friends and acquaintances. He was recently at the 69th Cannes Film Festival (May 11 to 22), where he asked fellow film industry insiders to partake in this year’s BIFF. After that, he visited Cuba for a Korean Film Festival in May.

As the festival’s chief organizer, he believes BIFF is at the point where it must maintain its founding principles and integrity. And to do that, this year, it must show films, especially new films by new directors that reflect its principles and must be attended by high-profile film industry guests. At the same time, he said, the festival must revolutionize the industry or face the danger of corruption. He promised to review BIFF, its management and its projects before implementing changes, to make the organization sustainable for the next 20 years. He said he will make sure that some 300 films are shown at the festival this year, perhaps at the expense of side events.

However, Kim said he will have no say in which films are chosen: “That is solely the programmer’s job.”

Kim, who majored in law at Seoul National University, entered government service in 1961 at what is now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Throughout his government career, he effectively implemented creative changes with his soft skills and charismatic leadership. In the 1970s, he set up cultural committees and established a five-year cultural development plan. He led the construction of major cultural institutes, such as the Korea Independence Hall in the 1980s. He co-led BIFF after being chosen by what is now known the Korean Film Council. As the Park Geun-hye administration’s chief of a cultural renaissance committee, he designated the last Wednesday of every month as a culture day. After 20 years or so in the government, he tried his hand at directing and directed one short film, “Jury” (2013).

If he, as a director, were to make this year’s BIFF into a film, what kind of film would it be?

“It would be a film about success after conflict,” he said.

That rather bland statement, more than anything else, seem like a cover for the massive amount of work and uncertainty that lay ahead for BIFF. But the sentiment seems to be of relief and anticipation that Kim Dong-ho is back.