Busan film festival deputy director dies of heart attack

Kim JI-seok, deputy executive director of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), has died of a heart attack. He was 57.

He passed away during his business trip to the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday (French time), BIFF said. A founding member of BIFF that launched in 1996, Kim also was the festival's executive programmer.

Born in the southern port city of Busan in 1960, "Kim has taken the lead in discovering Asian films over the past 20 years and played a pivotal role in BIFF's growth into Asia's largest film festival," the festival said in a press release. (Yonhap)