Busan International Film Festival FORUM BIFF

Introduction

The Busan International Film Festival hosts Forum BIFF during the festival period, with the Jiseok Film Institute playing the key role. Forum BIFF aims to be a platform for diverse intellectual communication and production through film. It explores different aspects of film in various ways, and connects film with practices such as criticism, creation, industry, and movement. We hope that it will be an opportunity for various intellectuals, from scholars to the mass audience, to enjoy the world of film.

This year, Forum BIFF is organized around the fundamental issue of identity of film in a changing media environment. It examines the situation in which films have been dispersed and dismantled in all areas of production, distribution, and screening, and forecasts the future of cinema. Noting that the rapid development of digital information and communication technology (ICT) has mainly driven these changes, an in-depth discussion of the aspects and potential of technological innovations—such as visual special effects (VFX) that are functioning as the decisive cause—will be held. Documentary film is one of the main points of the cinematic chapter where these changes are layered. Taking into account the context of the ongoing cinematic shift, the forum also wants to examine the technological, aesthetic, and ethical innovations and explorations of documentary film in the 21st century. In addition, by analyzing and diagnosing serial dramas and movies that are actively produced with streaming services, we want to explore the possibility of reconstruction and expansion of cinema.

Forum BIFF is finally being held offline after a two-year hiatus. We hope that it will be a place of communication and exchange between domestic and foreign filmmakers and experts, and an opportunity to share sincere and useful information and insights with the audience and related parties who visit this year’s Busan International Film Festival.