By Chung Ah-young
The feud between the Busan Metropolitan Government (BMG) and Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) organizers, triggered by alleged censorship over a movie screening, has turned into a legal dispute.
The city government said Tuesday that it recently filed for a court injunction to annul the appointment of 68 advisers by the BIFF executive committee.
The city government and BIFF executive committee began clashing after the committee screened "The Truth Shall Not Sink with the Sewol," a documentary depicting the Sewol ferry tragedy, despite the city's warning against the screening for "undermining political neutrality." The film criticizes the Korean government's botched rescue efforts during the disaster in 2014 that left more than 300 people dead. Busan is the festival's largest stockholder and sponsors more than half of its annual budget.
Busan provides financial and administrative support for the festival, and the city mayor heads the BIFF's organization.
The BMG claimed that the executive committee's new appointment of the advisers ahead of the BIFF general assembly was an attempt to take control of the organization.
According to the latter's internal rules, these can be changed with consent from two-thirds of committee members. The BMG claims the executive committee aims to change rules with the new advisers who have voting rights and are likely to vote in its favor.
At a general meeting on Feb. 25, the committee proposed changing the rules to autonomously select the head of the organization and guarantee independence and autonomy from the city government.
It planned to hold a temporary meeting soon, and the city government sought the court injunction to block the meeting.
"The advisers were selected without due process, thus they are unqualified," an official said. "The executive committee also appointed a large number of advisers without the Busan mayor's consent, which is against the rules."
Concerning the legal action, the executive committee and filmmakers said the changes to the rules are needed to guarantee the independence and autonomy of the festival.
Filmmakers staged a rally against the BMG in front of City Hall, Tuesday, to stop "unfair interference" in the festival.
"The city government should apologize for a series of events that compromises the festival's independence and autonomy, and promise that it won't happen again," they said in a statement.
"We believe this might be a growing pain for the festival to be operated transparently and mature for the better," the official said.
Earlier, Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo offered to step down from the BIFF post amid growing pressure to resolve the ongoing feud.
In December, the city filed a complaint with prosecutors against executive committee officials for allegedly committing accounting fraud by failing to submit sufficient documents for sponsorship procurement activities.
The feud between the Busan Metropolitan Government (BMG) and Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) organizers, triggered by alleged censorship over a movie screening, has turned into a legal dispute.
The city government said Tuesday that it recently filed for a court injunction to annul the appointment of 68 advisers by the BIFF executive committee.
The city government and BIFF executive committee began clashing after the committee screened "The Truth Shall Not Sink with the Sewol," a documentary depicting the Sewol ferry tragedy, despite the city's warning against the screening for "undermining political neutrality." The film criticizes the Korean government's botched rescue efforts during the disaster in 2014 that left more than 300 people dead. Busan is the festival's largest stockholder and sponsors more than half of its annual budget.
Busan provides financial and administrative support for the festival, and the city mayor heads the BIFF's organization.
The BMG claimed that the executive committee's new appointment of the advisers ahead of the BIFF general assembly was an attempt to take control of the organization.
According to the latter's internal rules, these can be changed with consent from two-thirds of committee members. The BMG claims the executive committee aims to change rules with the new advisers who have voting rights and are likely to vote in its favor.
At a general meeting on Feb. 25, the committee proposed changing the rules to autonomously select the head of the organization and guarantee independence and autonomy from the city government.
It planned to hold a temporary meeting soon, and the city government sought the court injunction to block the meeting.
"The advisers were selected without due process, thus they are unqualified," an official said. "The executive committee also appointed a large number of advisers without the Busan mayor's consent, which is against the rules."
Concerning the legal action, the executive committee and filmmakers said the changes to the rules are needed to guarantee the independence and autonomy of the festival.
Filmmakers staged a rally against the BMG in front of City Hall, Tuesday, to stop "unfair interference" in the festival.
"The city government should apologize for a series of events that compromises the festival's independence and autonomy, and promise that it won't happen again," they said in a statement.
"We believe this might be a growing pain for the festival to be operated transparently and mature for the better," the official said.
Earlier, Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo offered to step down from the BIFF post amid growing pressure to resolve the ongoing feud.
In December, the city filed a complaint with prosecutors against executive committee officials for allegedly committing accounting fraud by failing to submit sufficient documents for sponsorship procurement activities.
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