The Busan International Film Festival started back in 1996 and now it’s one of the best film festivals in the world. Up until 2011 it was called PIFF, but they finally changed it from Pusan to Busan. They also changed the location from PIFF Square in Nampo-dong to the Haeundae area (Centum City/Shensegae). They built the new Busan Cinema Center especially for BIFF. It is really spectacular!

The festival runs every year in October and the opening film sold out in 7 seconds this year! Weekend tickets are also hard to come by. Your best bet might be trying to go to a film during the week. Getting tickets can prove difficult for foreigners so it’s helpful to have a Korean friend buy tickets for you.

Back in 2011 I was able to attend the festival with several of my friends. We watched a movie called Star Watching Dog. It was a Japanese film and I thought it was quite good. Like most dog movies, it was a tear jerker. I definitely enjoyed it, even if it was behind tear filled eyes and a lump in my throat.

Location: Busan Cinema Center, 1467 Woo-Dong, Haeundae-Gu, Busan 612-020, Korea
Date: October 7-10, 2013