The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has unveiled 23 Korean and Asian independent films for its Vision section, split into 12 titles under Vision-Korea and 11 under Vision-Asia.
The Vision section grew out of Korean Cinema Today – Vision, expanding last year into a standalone program covering filmmakers across the continent. This year’s lineup pairs established names still building out distinctive bodies of work with emerging talents who have begun drawing international notice, and it comes with 10 Vision-Asia awards and nine Vision-Korea awards recognizing achievement across a range of categories.
Several Vision-Korea filmmakers return to Busan with festival history behind them. Kim Miyoung, whose “A Lonely Island in the Distant Sea” (2023) won the DGK Megabox Award at BIFF, brings “Some Detective.” Park Songyeol, a past winner of the Critic b Award and the KBS Independent Film Award for “Hot in Day, Cold at Night,” explores family and mortality in “Beyond Love’s Horizon.” Sohn Hyun-lok, whose debut “That Summer’s Lie” took the Fipresci Prize at BIFF in 2023, follows a string of student fall accidents in “The Birds.” Jang Woojin, recognized previously at BIFF and at the Berlin Film Festival, examines love, loss and chance in “Cosmic Trace.” Park Hong-min, whose work has drawn attention from BIFF, the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Vancouver International Film Festival, continues his recurring cinematic world in “Space.”
