BECAUSE I HATE KOREA to Open 28th Busan International Film Festival

Following some struggles behind the scenes earlier this year, which resulted in a staffing reshuffle, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will return next month with a sparkling program for its 28th edition.

The festival will open on October 4th with Because I Hate Korea from director Jang Kun-jae, who previously featured at BIFF with A Midsummer's Fantasia, Vestige and June from 5 to 7. Ko A-sung (Snowpiercer) leads this adaptation of the novel of the same namer penned by Chang Kang-myoung.

Closing the festival on the 13th will be the Chinese film The Movie Emperor from No Man's Land director Ning Hao. Andy Lau leads this satire about the film industry.

BIFF will welcome 209 films from 69 countries in its official selection. Despite the slimmer program, this year's edition boasts many heavy hitters and a slew of high profile guests.

Among the names set to light up Busan are Hong Kong legend Chow Yun-fat, who will be celebrated this year with the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award. The festival will screen his iconic films A Better Tomorrow and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, as well as the more recent title One More Chance.

Other high profile guests include Parasite star Song Kang-ho, who will serve as the host of BIFF this year, filmmakers Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose latest film Monster will have a gala screening, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, returning with his new film Evil Does Not Exist, and Chinese star Fan Bingbing with the gala film Green Night.

Major festival titles will feature in the Icon section, including Justine Triet's Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, David Fincher's The Killer, Yorgos Lanthismos' Poor Things, Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves, Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera and both of Hong Sangsoo's new films this year, In Our Day and In Water. Meanwhile Bertrand Bonello's The Beast is also set for a gala screening.

A wide range of major Asian filmmakers will be back in Busan such as Shunji Iwai (Kyrie), Brillante Mendoza (Moro), Zhang Lu (The Shadowless Tower), Ann Hui (Elegies) and Joko Anwar, whose film Impetigore will screen in a previously announced focus on Indonesian cinema.

Much of the local firepower will be concentrated in the Korean Cinema Today - Special Premiere sidebar, which will include the Cannes screened Hopeless with Song Joong-ki and premieres of the forthcoming Netflix titles Ballerina, from The Call director Lee Chung-hyun, and Believer 2.

Also set to dazzle at the fest are the selections in the On Screen program, which will platform six upcoming TV shows, including five Korean dramas such as Disney+'s Vigilante with Nam Joo-hyuk and I Am a Running Mate, the directorial debut of Academy Award-winning Parasite co-writer Han Jin-won.

In addition, BIFF will stage a focus on Korean diasporic cinema, which will include notable recent films with Korean and American ties, such as Celine Song's hit Past Lives, Lee Isaac Chung's Minari and Justin Chon's new film Jamojaya.

Meanwhile, the late Korean screen icon Yoon Jung-hee, who will posthumously receive this year's Korean Cinema Award, will be showcased with special screenings of Kim Soo-yong's Mist and Lee Chang-dong's Poetry.