An honorary plaque was awarded by TIFF to the director of Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) Kim Dong-Ho for his contribution in promoting Korean cinema. The event was held on Tuesday, November 17 at Warehouse 13 in the framework of TIFF’s Agora event.
TIFF’s president Georges Corraface presented the honorary plaque to Kim Dong-Ho, characterising him as a valuable friend of the Thessaloniki Film Festival. “I thank you for your contribution to cinema. This award is only a small token of our appreciation and gratitude”, said Mr Corraface.
After the award ceremony, a discussion was held on the role of PIFF in the promotion of Korean movies abroad and on the issue of financial support to new filmmakers. The discussion was co-ordinated by producer and International Financing Forum co-ordinator Jan Nathanson.
Taking the floor, Kim Dong – Ho thanked TIFF for the honour. Referring to the history of Pusan’s Festival he noted that before its establishment the city of Pusan was widely considered a “cultural desert”. “Pusan’s Festival is only 14 years old, a ‘baby’ compared to Thessaloniki’s festival. It is the fourth and youngest Asian international film festival. Despite its youth, however, it has risen to prominence and is considered the most important film festival in Asia and among the most significant in the world”, he added. Kim Dong – Ho also underlined that PIFF’s top priority is to «serve as a gateway for Korean films abroad and support filmmakers in all stages, especially in scriptwriting and post – production”. He went on to stress: ”We established support programs, with which we have funded approximately 200 projects. Many of them made it into production. Furthermore, we established the Asian Cinema Fund, the Pusan Film Library and the Pusan Film Commission. We now plan to establish a Film Museum, while the Pusan Film Centre is already underway”.
Asked about what had earned Pusan the title of a “cultural desert” in the past, Kim Dong – Ho said: “Despite the fact that the first Korean films were filmed there in 1926, a great number of cinemas were closed in 1945. Artists, producers and filmmakers left Pusan en masse for Seoul. By the time Pusan’s Festival was established, only Hollywood productions were available for the audience. We focused on art cinema, without totally excluding the more commercial type. Our intention was to establish a small festival, following the example of Italy’s Pesaro Film Festival. Even in our first year, however, the festival attracted an audience of 400.000 people”.
Pusan’s Film Festival actively supports the promotion of Korean films both in Korea and abroad. According to data presented by Kim Dong – Ho during the discussion, the market share of Korean films rose from 20% to 60%, revenue jumped from 50 million dollars in 1996 to 75 million dollars in 2005, while the number of tickets at the Korean box office tripled from 50 million to 150 million. As he explained, the Festival is financed by six universities and various private companies. «Last year we supported Yang Ik – June’s Breathless, a movie that premiered in PIFF and from there reached an international audience, winning many prizes all over the world”, said Kim Dong – Ho, adding: “In the last PIFF we invited around 350 films, of which more than one hundred were international premieres. It is also suggestive that, in the first 50 years of the Cannes Festival, a total of no more than four Korean movies participated annually. After PIFF was established, there is an average of five Korean entries in Cannes every year, while for 2009 we had 10 entries ”.
