‘Busan Cinema Center Middle Theater’, known as the symbol of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), ‘Park Hyatt Busan’, a 5-star hotel standing tall on Haeundae Film Street… .
These are the places where the red letter ‘N’ symbolizing Netflix will be engraved at BIFF, which will be held from the 2nd to the 11th. Although Netflix has been increasing its influence at BIFF, it has never been more noticeable than this year. In the film industry, there is even an assessment that “Netflix is poised to move beyond being a guest of BIFF and take over as the owner.”
A representative example is the Netflix movie ‘Jeon, Ran’ selected as the opening film to be released at the Busan Cinema Center’s Middle Theater on the 2nd. Rather than the fact that it is a work produced by director Park Chan-wook against the backdrop of the Japanese invasions of Korea, the fact that it was the first Netflix film to be selected as the opening film is attracting attention. ‘Hell Season 2’ (Korea), ‘Breakup and Even Afterward’ (Japan), and ‘Spotlight is Mine’ (Taiwan) were selected in the ‘On Screen’ category, which previews series that are attracting attention at BIFF. The CEO of a film production company said, “For the first time among the online video service (OTT) series, Netflix’s ‘Hell’ has advanced to the opening film in just three years since it was invited to BIFF in 2021.” He added, “The Venice International Film Festival in Italy, one of the three major film festivals, He said, “Although a Netflix film was screened as the opening film in 2022, changes at BIFF are rapid.”
Netflix also took over the first Friday night, the hottest part of BIFF. This is because ‘Next on Netflix: 2025 Korean Movies’ will be held at Park Hyatt Busan on Haeundae Film Street at 6 p.m. on the 4th. Netflix has previously distributed highly anticipated films through materials, but this time, in time for BIFF, it held a large-scale offline event in Busan with the participation of director Yeon Sang-ho, who directed the movie ‘Revelation’, which will be released next year. From the 3rd to the 6th, Netflix rented out the entire large cafe on the first floor of the KNN Tower across from the Busan Cinema Center. This is to operate a ‘sarangbang’ where BIFF visitors can spend time taking commemorative photos.
The reason why Netflix’s actions are noticeable is because BIFF itself has lost weight. This year’s BIFF includes Japanese actor Yutaka Matsushige of the movie ‘The Lonely Gourmet: The Movie’ and Japanese master director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Their popularity is lower than last year, including Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda and Hong Kong actor Zhou Lun-fa. Some say that the reduction in government subsidies from 1.2 billion won to 600 million won last year had an impact.
BIFF’s openness to Netflix is also an effort to secure popularity. Last year’s BIFF opening film ‘Because I Hate Korea’ was released in August this year, nearly a year later, but only attracted 60,000 viewers. BIFF suffered unprecedented turmoil and loss of reputation last year due to a leadership vacuum caused by personnel issues and a sexual harassment controversy surrounding the former executive chairman. Acting Executive Chairman Park Do-shin said at a press conference on the 3rd of last month, “I didn’t worry about it being a Netflix movie and decided after looking at the work itself. “It is the most popular opening work of all time.”
Some are protesting that Netflix is pouring in large amounts of money to turn BIFF into its own festival. On the other hand, some say that BIFF’s changes are a natural result of the times. Film critic Jeong Ji-wook said, “Not only movie theaters but also film festivals cannot escape the new trend of OTT,” and “BIFF must also prove why it exists by improving the quality of its own events.”
Reporter Hojae Lee [email protected]
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2024-10-01 00:26:39