Busan International Film Festival (South Korea): The Indian charge… 

Just under way (see dates below), this festival routinely attracts Indian and other South Asian country films, big and small…. 

By Rodrigues C  

The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has just got underway with the opening film, ‘The Table: Day and Night‘ by Kim Jon-kwan today (October 6) and continues until October 15.

Taking place primarily around the Busan Cinema Center, this year’s festival arrives with an expansive programme that places Asian filmmaking at its centre while also bringing together some of the world’s most recognised directors and performers to Korea.  

Michelle Yeoh was set to receive the Asian Filmmaker Of The Year honour at the opening ceremony. The award recognises her contribution to Asian cinema and her career connecting Hong Kong, Asian and Western filmmaking.  

BIFF will also screen four films associated with Yeoh; ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, ‘Reign Of Assassins’, ‘Sandiwara’ and ‘It’s My Time’. The 2026 edition marks BIFF’s first year as an officially recognised A-list festival by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). Under this tier, the winner of the festival’s top award qualifies for direct submission to the Academy Awards. 

A Window On Asian Cinema section will showcase prominent new works by Asian filmmakers. This includes ‘Birds In The Dark’ by India’s Shashank Walia; and Sailesh Rathnakumar directorial ‘Selvi’ staring Anjali Patil alongside films from Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.  

‘Chevittorma’ (‘The Soul Whisperer’), a Malayalam independent feature directed by Leo Thaddeus and starring Dileesh Pothan and Pauly Valsan will have its world premiere as part of this section. It also has backing from Bangladesh in its official credits.
 
Rima Das’s newest offering ‘Not A Hero’, which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, will also feature in this section. Anuparna Roy’s ‘Lovers in the Blue Light’, which premiered in Venice and won the director her second award also features. Vishwendra Singh’s ‘Khoriya’, ‘Birds On Ice’ by Sahil Shah and Sandeep Kumar Paul’s ‘About An Intimate Matter’ will also be part of this section. 

The festival’s programme is particularly broad this year. The Official Selection includes 246 films from 59 countries. The Competition Section features 14 films across Asia including Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Indonesia. The festival will screen a total of 316 films plus 69 films in the public Community BIFF strand. There are 95 World Premieres and 10 International Premieres, marking the festival’s largest collective slate since 2019. Among the competition titles are ‘Beach Fictions’, ‘Between Two Lovers’, ‘The First Taste Of Loneliness’, ‘Midday Meal’ and ‘Satoko Always’. For those interested in discovering filmmakers rather than simply following established stars, the Vision–Asia and Vision–Korea sections will be vital. Both sections concentrate on independent cinema and emerging voices.  

Mike Leigh’s ‘Tender Loving Care’, a UK production, will screen in the Icons section along with Anthony Maras’s ‘Pressure’, a UK-France historical drama, which explores the tense decisions surrounding the D-Day weather forecast. Other British-linked selections include ‘A Long Winter’, ‘Queen At Sea’, ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘Skintown’ and ‘Black Church Bay’.  

Animation is another major theme of BIFF 2026. The festival has expanded its animation programming with a dedicated Japanese animation retrospective titled Masterpieces of Madness, Exhilarating Prospects 12+1. The programme brings together influential works from different periods of Japanese animation including ‘Angel’s Egg’, ‘Belladonna Of Sadness’, ‘Metropolis’, ‘Mind Game’, ‘Phoenix 2772’ and ‘The White Snake Enchantress’. The animation focus also extends into the festival’s Midnight Passion programme. This All Night Animation initiative will let audiences experience animation in a late-night setting, reflecting BIFF’s willingness to present cinema outside conventional categories and viewing habits. 

Mexican Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón will make his first visit to Korea for the festival.  

BIFF will screen his acclaimed science-fiction film ‘Gravity’ in IMAX followed by a conversation with audiences. Cuarón will also conduct a Master Class. 
 
Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou will serve as president of the Competition Jury, other prominent guests include Hirokazu Kore-eda, Rintaro, Majid Majidi and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Actors Isabelle Huppert, Christine Hakim, Zhou Xun, Fan Bingbing, Shu Qi are also expected to attend the event. 

Netflix will also have a notable presence. The streaming platform is presenting five titles at the festival; Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Possible Love’ and the animated film ‘Ray Gunn’. ‘Possible Love’ starring Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong has already travelled through several major international festivals and has been selected as South Korea’s entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. 

Beyond films, BIFF offers something that distinguishes it from many traditional awards-focused festivals: a strong connection between filmmakers and the public. Master Classes, Cine Classes, audience conversations and Community BIFF give moviegoers opportunities to engage directly with the people behind the films. The festival has also announced barrier-free screenings of 11 films, incorporating accessibility measures such as audio descriptions and closed captions. The festival’s programming also looks back through a special retrospective titled Those Beautiful Years. Ahn Sung-ki will celebrate one of Korean cinema’s most important actors with films selected from his career. 
 
Former BIFF chairperson Kim Dong-ho will receive the Korean Cinema Award, while Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui will be honoured with the 2026 Camellia Award. 

Ultimately, BIFF 2026 promises to be more than a showcase of new films. Its programme brings together established international filmmakers, emerging Asian directors, animation, independent cinema, Korean classics, streaming productions, major contemporary releases, actors, critics and cinema enthusiasts. With ten days of screenings and events, the festival is set to make the South Korean port city one of the world’s major cinematic gathering places this autumn and easily the largest gathering of creative talent in Asia in a country with a global fan base for drama that spans far and wide.      

BIFF website – https://www.biff.kr/eng/