News: BIFF Director Stays on, Censorship Concerns Linger

By Pierce Conran

Click here to read about the events leading up to this story.

It appears that Busan Film Festival director Lee Yong-kwan will not be leaving his post for the moment. Lee and BIFF executive programmer Kim Ji-seok met with Busan City mayor Suh Byung-soo and culture and tourism bureau director-general Kim Kwang-hee on Tuesday.

Following the sitdown, Lee said in a statement that he would "fix the aftermath of the recent controversy over my attitude as soon as possible, and get back to my duties so that it does not affect the upcoming 20th edition of BIFF.” Lee went on to state that while he did not agree with all of the mayor's opinions, he would work with the city to implement reforms.

While the city no longer pushing for Lee's resignation is good news, many are worried that a compromise may affect the festival's freedom in future, particularly when it comes to selecting titles. In any case, with the industry up in the arms about Busan city's intrusion in the festival's affairs, this is unlikely to be the final word on the subject.

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema. For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Korean Reviews, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (Korean Standard Time).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.