BIFF appoints Jung Han-seok as festival director
Published: 21 Mar. 2025, 14:46
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- KIM JI-YE
- [email protected]
Jung Han-seok, the newly appointed festival director of Busan International Film Festival
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has appointed Jung Han-seok, currently a Korean cinema programmer at BIFF, as its festival director.
Jung is the latest to take on the role since former festival director Huh Moon-young resigned in May 2023.
Since Huh's resignation, the festival has struggled to appoint a successor, despite holding four open recruitments over two years, leaving the position vacant.
The appointment was decided on Thursday during a board and general meeting held at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae.
The open recruitment for the position took place from January to March, led by BIFF’s Executive Recommendation Committee, which sought candidates capable of ensuring the festival's stable operation while presenting a vision for its future.
Jung was recommended to the Board of Directors by Chairperson Park Kwang-su from a short list of two candidates endorsed by the committee.
“Jung is a highly qualified candidate with a deep understanding of the festival’s internal and external landscape,” the committee said in a press release. “He possesses the capabilities necessary to take the festival to the next level.”
Jung’s four-year term as festival director begins on March 21.
He entered the film industry after winning the Cine21 Film Criticism Award in 2002 and later worked as a journalist and critic for the film magazine Cine21.
Jung has served as a Korean cinema programmer at BIFF since 2019.
BY KIM JI-YE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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