Busan International Film Festival postponed due to COVID-19

On September 11th, Busan International Film Festival held a board meeting and discussed how the 25th Busan International Film Festival should be held. The board reached the conclusion to postpone the festival by 2 weeks and to downsize significantly. The 25th Busan International Film Festival, previously planned to be held from October 7th to October 16th, will now take place from October 21st to October 30th.

All outdoor events are cancelled, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Outdoor Greeting, and Open Talk, in order to prevent crowds from gathering. There will be no international invitations, nor will there be any receptions or parties hosted to provide networking opportunities for film industry professionals.

The press release is here with further details to follow.

As reported in Variety: Asia’s biggest annual film festival in Busan, South Korea is to be postponed by two weeks due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. And organizers warned that the festival could still be canceled outright.

At a meeting Friday between the festival’s board of directors and the city authorities, it was decided to shift the event backwards. It will now run Oct,. 21-30, 2020.

“Concern over the spread of COVID-19 after Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) holidays was the main reason behind the rescheduling,” the festival said. “However, if Level Two social distancing protocol is continued or escalated during the rescheduled festival period, Busan International Film Festival may ultimately be canceled.”

In order to concentrate largely on film screenings, and minimize other events, official selections will only be screened at Busan Cinema Center, Centum City in compliance with the governmental guidelines. The newly renamed Asian Contents & Film Market, Asian Project Market, and Forum BIFF will all be hosted online.

Further details will be announced at a press briefing on 14 September.