Busan International Film Festival

Presented at the Opening Ceremony: the Asian Filmmaker of the Year, the Korean Cinema Award and the Camellia Award (established in 2024 with CHANEL, for filmmakers or industry professionals who have advanced the role of women in cinema). Presented at the Closing Ceremony, for films in Competition: the Busan Award for Best Film, a grand prize of KRW 50,000,000 shared equally by the director and the producer; the Busan Award for Best Director, KRW 20,000,000; the Busan Award Special Jury Prize, KRW 10,000,000 to the director; the Busan Award for Best Actor, KRW 10,000,000 to each of two performers; and the Busan Award for Artistic Contribution, KRW 10,000,000. The New Currents Award of KRW 20,000,000 goes to the most promising directorial debut in Competition or Vision. Vision section awards include the NETPAC Award, the FIPRESCI Award, the Songwon Vision Audience Awards for Asia and for Korea, and sponsored awards of KRW 10,000,000 each such as the Bishkek International Film Festival Central Asia Cinema Award, the Face of the Future Award, the Hylife Vision Award, the International Film Festival of India Vision Asia Award, the Taipei Film Commission Award and the Vision of Jiseok Award. Wide Angle awards include the BIFF Mecenat Award for documentaries and the Sonje Award for short films, each KRW 10,000,000 as funding for the next production, the Documentary Audience Award and the Busan Cinephile Award. The Flash Forward Audience Award is voted by the audience. The festival lists the awards as subject to change.

Films are submitted online through the official website. Email addresses are verified first, then the online submission form is completed and the screener is uploaded. There is no entry fee. Submission is complete only when the film information is registered and the screener is uploaded by 18:00 (KST) on the deadline date; for the 2026 edition the deadlines are 2 June for short films and 8 July for feature films. The festival accepts feature films, short films, documentaries and animations. For the 2026 edition a film must be completed no earlier than September 2025 and no later than the first week of September 2026. A film under 60 minutes is a short, and a film of 60 minutes or longer is a feature. Short documentaries and non-Asian short fiction films are not open to submission. The Wide Angle Korean and Asian short film competitions take only world and international premieres of up to 30 minutes. Films submitted to a previous edition should not be resubmitted. Films not in Korean or English need English subtitles on the screener. The Selection Committee gives priority to world and international premieres and decides the section of each selected film. Selected films must be available as a DCP or 35mm print by the first week of September, with English subtitles unless the original language is English; the festival produces the Korean subtitles and covers shipping and insurance both ways.