A poster for the 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) / Courtesy of BIFF

The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) runs Oct. 6 to 15 at the Busan Cinema Center and surrounding venues. This is the first edition since the International Federation of Film Producers Associations named Busan one of its 17 A-list festivals, and the first in which the top prize carries awards-season weight. The winner of the Busan Award for Best Film now qualifies for submission in the Academy Awards' Best International Feature Film category, placing Busan among the six festivals that confer that status alongside Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance and Toronto. The official selection totals 246 films from 59 countries, the largest since 2019. Festival director Jung Han-seok told a press conference on Sept. 1 that Busan's international standing had risen sharply.

Competition, and a First for Animation

The Competition section, launched last year, fields 14 titles competing for the Busan Award. Korean entries include Lim Hayeon's "Beach Fictions" and Kim Jung-hoon's "Shaving," alongside "Midday Meal" from Iran's Majid Majidi, "Between Two Lovers" from Japan's Hirose Nanako and "To Be Ordinary" from Taiwan's Lee Yun Chan.

One selection stands apart. Youm Kyu-bock's "Long Long Night" is the first animated feature to reach Competition since the section was created, an outcome Jung said the programming committee had not predicted. It adapts Ru Ri's children's novel, which won the grand prize at the 21st Munhakdongne Children's Literature Award and has sold more than 800,000 copies in Korea. The story follows Norden, the last northern white rhino on Earth, who sets out for the sea with an abandoned penguin egg after war destroys the zoo that had housed him.

Youm, who spent close to two decades directing commercials, built the film in Unreal Engine, and Suzy narrates as the young penguin. The film premiered in the Centerpiece section at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Jung said Busan programmed it independently of Toronto on the strength of the work itself. Animation is prominent across this year's lineup, a shift the festival attributes to the volume of strong animated work now emerging globally.

Programming and Guests

The Icon section, devoted to new work by established auteurs, presents a record 36 titles including Cristian Mungiu's "Fjord" and Pedro Almodovar's "Bitter Christmas." Gala Presentation features July Jung's "Dora," Kore-eda Hirokazu's "Look Back" and Marc Fitoussi's "All About Corinne." Kim Jong-kwan's "The Table: Day and Night" opens the festival.

Michelle Yeoh returns to Busan after 15 years as Asian Filmmaker of the Year. Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her first visit to Korea with "Flesh Impact," Ann Hui receives the Camellia Award, and Rintaro and Isabelle Huppert also attend. Ticketing for the opening and closing ceremonies and selected programs opened Sept. 17, with general screenings following Sept. 21, all through the festival's official website.

What Changes for the Market

Oscar qualification changes what Busan does, not only how it ranks. A festival that has functioned as a discovery platform for Asian cinema and an entry point to the Asian market now also serves as a starting line for awards campaigns. For sales agents and distributors, a Busan Award becomes a concrete input into North American acquisition talks in a way that a Busan premiere alone never was.

The animation result carries a separate signal. Korean animation spent decades as a service base for foreign studios, and its move toward original authorship has been uneven. Conditions have shifted quickly: animated features topped the annual box office in both China and Japan last year, and Netflix's "KPop Demon Hunters" showed that Korean motifs can carry an animated property to global scale. "Long Long Night" is the concrete case, arriving in Competition with a Japanese presale already closed by distributor The Contents On, which is negotiating further international deals ahead of a domestic release during the winter school holiday early next year.

Jung framed this edition as a waypoint on the way to a stronger Korean film industry rather than an arrival. With the accreditation secured and the scale restored, the measure of Busan's new standing will be what the festival sends out into the international market.

Sources

• Kukmin Ilbo, "BIFF, Now a Major World Festival, Opens in October: 246 Films From 59 Countries Invited", 2026.09.02

• Yonhap News Agency, "Busan Film Fest Ticket Sales to Begin Sept. 17", 2026.09.02

• Etoday, "Busan International Film Festival Ticketing Opens on the 17th: What About the Screening Schedule?", 2026.09.02

• The Korea Times, "What Animated Film's BIFF Competition Debut Means", 2026.09.02