Press Release | 2026.09.16 |
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The 31st BIFF Announces
Jury Members for Major Awards! |
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The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has finalized the 12 jury members for the BIFF Mecenat Award, Sonje Award, NETPAC Award, and FIPRESCI Award.
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Feature Documentary Competition – BIFF Mecenat Award Jury
Rintu THOMAS, KIM Taeil, and ZHOU Hao |
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(From Left to Right) Rintu THOMAS, KIM Taeil, and ZHOU Hao
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The BIFF Mecenat Award is given to exceptional Korean and Asian documentaries in Wide Angle Competition and each winner is awarded KRW 10,000,000. This year’s jury comprises documentary director and producer Rintu Thomas, whose work brings an intimate, cinematic gaze to exploring human relationships and the social worlds that shape them, including Writing with Fire (2021), which earned an Academy Award nomination, a Peabody Award, and two awards at the Sundance Film Festival; director Kim Taeil, who has completed People’s World History project from No Name Stars (2010) to Again the Wind Blows (2022), and won the Woonpa Award and the BIFF Mecenat Award at BIFF for Annyong, Sayonara (2005) and Raining Dust (2025); and director Zhou Hao, a former journalist, whose restrained observational approach captures the lives of ordinary people, urban transformation, and social realities in works including Cotton (2014) and The Chinese Mayor (2015) which won multiple awards at the prestigious film festivals including Golden Horse Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
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Sonje Award Jury
Anuparna ROY, Abinash Bikram SHAH, and LEE Ranhee |
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(From Left to Right) Anuparna ROY, Abinash Bikram SHAH, and LEE Ranhee
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The Sonje Award is given to exceptional Korean and Asian short films in Wide Angle Competition and each winner is awarded KRW 10,000,000. The jury includes director and screenwriter Anuparna Roy, whose intimate storytelling and distinctive mise-en-scène explore human relationships and social realities in films including Songs of Forgotten Trees (2025) and Loves in the Blue Night (2026), both selected for the Orizzonti section at the Venice International Film Festival; CHANEL X BIFF Asian Film Academy alumnus Abinash Bikram Shah, whose work has drawn international attention and whose Elephants in the Fog (2026) won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival; and director and actor Lee Ranhee, who began her career in theater as an actor and producer before turning to filmmaking with award-winning works such as A Perm (2009), A Leave (2020), and The Final Semester (2024), focusing on migrant women, laid-off workers, and young people entering the workforce.
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Vision – Asia – NETPAC Award Jury
Nina KOCHELYAEVA, Matthew POON, and LEE Dongha |
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(From Left to Right) Nina KOCHELYAEVA, Matthew POON, and LEE Dongha
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The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Award is presented to an outstanding Asian film in the Vision section, selected by the NETPAC jury. The NETPAC jury includes Nina Kochelyaeva, an acclaimed scholar of cultural policy and film history, Head of the Department for the Development and Approbation of Film Education Methods at VGIK (the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography), as well as a documentary filmmaker and programmer who has served on selection committees at multiple film festivals. She is joined by Matthew Poon, Senior Project Manager at HKIFF Industry, who has served as a juror and speaker at numerous international film festivals and film markets; and Lee Dongha, CEO of REDPETER FILMS and Chairperson of the Producers Guild of Korea (PGK), who served as a co-producer on films such as Poetry (2010) and Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013), and produced major titles including Train to Busan (2016), Another Child (2019) Peninsula (2020), and Dora (2026), which will screen at this year’s BIFF. |
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Vision – Asia FIPRESCI Award Jury
MA Xingxu, Teresa VENA, and ROH Chul-Hwan |
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(From Left to Right) MA Xingxu, Teresa VENA, and ROH Chul-Hwan
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The Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (FIPRESCI) Award recognizes an Asian film in the Vision section that demonstrates exceptional artistry and a bold artistic vision. The jury for the FIPRESCI Award includes film critic and editor Ma Xingxu, who has reported extensively from international film festivals and whose work encompasses film criticism, festival reporting, and in-depth interviews with a focus on contemporary auteur cinema and emerging voices; Teresa Vena, who studied history, art history, and Spanish philology in Geneva, and now works in Berlin and Switzerland as a journalist and curator across art and film, while also serving as a juror and program consultant at international film festivals; and Roh Chul-hwan, a professor of Theater and Film Studies at Inha University whose research focuses on film and media industry policy and visual narratives and who has contributed to the development of Korea’s film industry and cultural policy.
The 31st BIFF will take place from October 6 (Tue) to 15 (Thu) at the Busan Cinema Center and throughout Busan. |
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▶31st Busan International Film Festival: Oct 6 (Tue) – Oct 15 (Thu)
▶21st Asian Contents & Film Market: Oct 10 (Sat) – Oct 13 (Tue) |
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