Busan International Film Festival Opens October 6 With Kim Jong-kwan's 'The Table: Day And Night'

The Busan International Film Festival opened on October 6 with a screening of Kim Jong-kwan's The Table: Day And Night, according to deadline.com. Kim Minha hosted the opening ceremony.

The festival's Competition section features 14 titles from across Asia. Zhang Yimou heads a seven-person jury for the Competition awards. Jung Hanseok, who took up the post last year, is the festival director.

Busan's standing in the international festival circuit has shifted in 2026. In March, FIAPF announced that BIFF had been added to its list of A-list festivals. A few months later, AMPAS announced that top prize winners of six international festivals, including Busan, will automatically qualify for submission to the Best International Feature Film category of the Oscars.

BIFF introduced a fully-fledged competition section last year, with awards in six categories. Last year, Gloaming In Luomu, from Korean-Chinese filmmaker Zhang Lu, was awarded Best Film, and Taiwan's Shu Qi took Best Director for Girl.

Korea's Oscars committee has already submitted Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love as its official entry. The film is currently receiving an Oscars-qualifying run in Korean theatres before streaming on Netflix.