The 26th Busan International Film Festival, the largest event of its kind in Asia, will run from Oct. 6-15.
The opening film is "Heaven: To the Land of Happiness" directed by Im Sang-soo, with 223 movies from 70 countries to be screened on 29 screens in six theaters. "Heaven," a road movie starring actors Choi Min-sik and Park Hae-il, was among last year's official selections at the Cannes International Film Festival.
The closing film is "Anita" by Hong Kong director Longman Leung.
Eleven films were selected to compete for the New Currents Award, with Indian Canadian director Deepa Mehta leading the jury for the honor this year.
This year's festival features two exhibitions of Asian films: "Wonder Women Movies," a collection of Asian films by female directors and selected by cinema experts, and "New Voices, Chinese Films," which showcase movies by Chinese directors.
"On Screen" is a new section in the festival that screens popular dramas on over-the-top platforms.
The third edition of the Asia Contents Awards has expanded its categories to animation, short form and web-drama. The winning works in 14 categories will be announced online in real time.
The 15th annual Asia Film Awards will honor works and figures contributing to the Asian film industry spanning 18 categories. These awards are co-hosted by the international film festivals of Hong Kong, Busan and Tokyo.
Whereas last year's Busan event had no in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was mostly held online, this year's will hold a few offline events including the opening and closing ceremonies.
Under social distancing guidelines, a theater can fill only half of its seating capacity. All tickets will be sold online and those sold at theaters will be exclusively for leftover or canceled seats.
