Appointment Announced Ahead of 20th Edition
In the lead up to its 20th edition this October, the
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has announced that veteran screen icon
KANG Soo-yeon will join LEE Yong-kwan as co-director of Asia’s largest film festival. Additionally, Lee Myung-shik, former newsroom
chief of broadcaster KNN, was named as a deputy director.
The appointment arrives following a search that began in March when LEE suggested creating a co-director position as a way to ease tensions that arose between BIFF and the Busan Metropolitan Government over the management of the event.
Feted on the international festival scene, with Best Actress wins for
IM Kwon-taek's
The Surrogate Womb (1987) at the Venice International Film Festival and IM’s
Come, Come, Come Upwards (1989) at the Moscow International Film Festival, KANG is one of Korea’s most respected performers and has already been active in film promotion for some time, having served on BIFF’s executive committee since 1998, as well as on a number of international film festival juries.
KANG’s term will carry through until July 2018. while LEE, was has been festival director since 2011, will finish his term in February of next year, though the festival hopes that both will continue to serve in their current positions beyond those limits. The 20th edition of BIFF will unfurl over October 1st to 10th in the southern Korean port city this year.