The Busan International Film Festival, the biggest film event in Asia, has found itself
in the midst of a controversy following a request by Busan City for the festival′s
director to step down.
As the story has developed over the past week, so too has speculation behind the scenes about
the reason for the drama.
Here to fill us in on the sensitive issue is our film critic Pierce Conran.
This has been a big story in the Korean film industry this week.
Could you tell us a little about how things got started?
The story kicked off late last Friday when word got out that Lee Yong-kwan, Busan′s
festival director, had been asked to resign his post by the mayor of Busan.
The alleged reason behind the extreme request had to do with the poor results of an audit
carried out on the festival last month.
However, most people seemed to think that the real reason had to do with the festival′s
refusal to cancel a controversial screening at its most recent edition last October.
Do you mean the controversial Sewol-ho documentary?
Exactly.
Ahead of last year′s festival, the Busan mayor, who is also the chairman of the festival′s
executive committee, a position that does not afford creative input, ordered BIFF to
remove the documentary THE TRUTH SHALL NOT SINK WITH SEWOL from
its lineup.
Many were highly critical of the request, seeing it as an aggressive act of censorship.
The screenings went ahead, to the evident displeasure of the mayor.
So what happened after the city asked for his resignation?
Well, Lee Yong-kwan refused to step down, calling the situation absurd, and his colleagues,
not to mention the industry at large, stood behind him.
On Saturday, Busan City issued a statement expressing its displeasure with how the festival
has been run.
The event′s large budget and staff were mentioned , as well as the programmers′
refusal to share selections with the executive committee ahead of the event.
How did the festival react to these allegations?
On Monday, BIFF issued its own statement refuting the claims and requesting an official document
from the city listing their grievances.
Shortly thereafter, a joint statement was issued by a coalition of 12 organizations,
including various guilds representing industry members, condemning the move by Busan City
and asking them to retract their demand.
They called it an act of retaliation and believed the mayor to be overstepping his boundaries
as executive committee chairman.
In addition, film industry professionals stated that they would boycott this year′s festival,
not to mention the use of Busan as a location.
There have also been murmurs of a protest at next month′s Berlin International Film
Festival.
Seems like a quick sequence of events What′s the latest news on the controversy?
Well, it seems that officials from both the city and the festival met on Tuesday to thrash
things out, and the result of that is what appears to
be
a truce, at least for the time being.
Director Lee appears to be continuing his d