Film council slashes funding for Busan fest

The Korean Film Council’s decision to cut funding for the Busan International Film Festival by nearly half in 2015 has led to speculation that the quasi-governmental agency is trying to punish the festival for screening a politically controversial documentary last year.

On April 30, the agency announced its 2015 funding decisions for six festivals as part of its international film festival development program. The BIFF was awarded a total of 800 million won ($740,000), down nearly half from 1.46 billion won in 2014, and an average of 1.5 billion won in previous years. It was the only festival to receive reduced funding support.

The other five festivals are: the Jeonju International Film Festival, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival, the Jecheon International Film & Music Festival and the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival.

The KOFIC stated that it referenced the evaluations of the festivals from the previous two years. The council added that it made a conscious decision to focus its funding on festivals that were still developing in international recognition, and avoid concentrating funding on any one particular festival.

Those statements led up to a direct reference to the BIFF: “The majority opinion was that the BIFF, as an established global film festival, should strengthen its self-sufficiency. In accordance, its funding was partially reduced.”

The sudden and dramatic funding cut for the BIFF comes seven months after the festival’s decision to screen “The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol” (a.k.a. “Diving Bell”), a documentary by codirectors Lee Sang-ho and Ahn Hae-ryong about the events following the sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16, 2014.

The tragedy, which took 304 lives, many of them schoolchildren, had rocked the nation and become a touchstone for widespread political and social protests.

The festival, Korea’s largest and most recognized film event, stood its ground amid growing pressure to remove the film from its “Wide Angle” program, leading to a public clash with Busan city officials, who called for the festival director’s resignation.

The 20th Busan International Film Festival will take place this year from Oct. 1-10.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)