Compared to last year’s 209 screenings, this year’s screenings will increase by roughly 8%, to 224. This is the result of efforts to maintain a scale befitting Asia’s top film festival through self-financing, despite the 50% cut in government subsidy compared to last year. To keep up with the increase in screenings, the KOFIC Theater has been secured as an additional venue.

The recipient of this year's Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award will be director Kurosawa Kiyoshi. Kurosawa has made many genre films such as Cure (1997), Pulse (2001), and Retribution (2006), but he has gained a wider fandom with his unique individuality as an auteur. This year, two of his new films will be shown at the Busan International Film Festival: Serpent’s Path (2024) and Cloud.

A Special Program in Focus on Miguel Gomes, who won the Best Director Award at Cannes Film Festival this year for Grand Tour, and established himself as a young master of the 21st century with his feature Tabu (2012), will be presented. Busan International Film Festival 2024 will showcase eight feature films of the auteur, and invite the director—also a former film critic—to shed light on his cinema.

A Special Program in Focus that gathers new films with teenage narratives from around Asia will be presented. These coming-of-age films that have garnered much international attention include: Tiger Stripes (2023), which won the Grand Prix Prize at Critics’ Week during Cannes Film Festival 2023; City of Wind (2023), winner of the Orizzonti Award for Best Actor at Venice International Film Festival 2023; My Sunshine, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Film Festival 2024; and Happyend, which was invited to the Orizzonti section of Venice International Film Festival 2024.

A Special Program in Focus of the works of the late actor Lee Sun-kyun, who passed away in 2023, will be presented. Lee’s well-known films Paju (2009), Our Sunhi (2013), A Hard Day (2014), Parasite (2019), Land of Happiness, as well an episode from the limited TV series My Mister (2018), will be screened, for a total of six works. This will be an opportunity to reflect on the significance and presence of Lee Sun-kyun as an actor.

The Busan International Film Festival has always strived to create a space for open discussion and communication within the festival. This year the BIFF, in collaboration with major film companies, has initiated an open space for industry professionals, audience members, and experts to interact and communicate. Major participating groups include CJ ENM, NETFLIX, The E&M, and DMP Studio. Glenn S. Gainor (Head of Physical Production Amazon Original Movies, Amazon Studios), TJ Falls (Vice President of Visual Effects, Lucasfilm), and others will be featured panelists.

Since drawing attention for its message “AI Is Not Creative, You Are” at Marché du Film 2024, Microsoft will be hosting a booth at the Busan International Film Festival and Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), marking its first appearance at an Asian film festival. At BIFF Hill, part of the Busan Cinema Center, Microsoft will host a lounge where audience members can experience AI firsthand. Microsoft’s ACFM booth will preview a Copilot feature, showcasing the coalescence of technology and contents.

Community BIFF and BIFF Everywhere will connect its participants under the name of the cineaste. The keyword of the 7th Community BIFF is ‘Future’, and the keyword of the 4th BIFF Everywhere is ‘Connect’. These two events set out to collaborate with various corporate institutions, academia, and other organizations, in pursuit of a brighter future for the next generation. Encouraging all young spirits who have their own aspirations, Community BIFF and BIFF Everywhere will step up as an irreplaceable, community-driven cultural celebration encompassing almost everything including film, dance, music, literature, science, technology, and urban landmarks.

Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT (ACA&G.OTT) Awards 2024, now in its 6th year, is set to take place on Oct 6, 18:00 KST at the Busan Cinema Center. Since its inception in 2019, ACA & G.OTT Awards has encouraged the growth of the Asian contents market and expanded its scope globally since 2023, celebrating worldwide television, OTT, and online creative content. This year, ACA & G.OTT 2024 has selected 41 nominees from 10 countries across 11 categories, out of 201 submissions from 16 countries. The final winners will be determined by seven international jurors.