Kim Dong-ho to Receive Korean Cinema Award as BIFF Names 2026 Co-Production Fund Recipients

Kim Dong-ho, the founding festival director of the Busan International Film Festival, has been named the recipient of the 2026 Korean Cinema Award, organizers announced this week. The honor will be presented during the opening ceremony of the 31st BIFF on October 6, coinciding with the festival's announcement of three new international projects selected for its Asian Cinema Fund Co-Production Support Fund.

Kim's career in Korean film and cultural policy spans decades. Before helping launch BIFF in 1996, he worked at the Ministry of Culture and Information, led the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation (the precursor to today's Korean Film Council), founded the Seoul Arts Center and served as a vice minister of culture. As BIFF's inaugural director, he pushed back against film censorship practices common at the time, a stance that helped the young festival win the trust of filmmakers across Asia and grow into one of the region's premier cinema events.

After stepping away from the director's chair, Kim remained active in the industry, later serving as BIFF chairman, dean of Dankook University's Graduate School of Cinematic Content and a juror at festivals including Cannes, Rotterdam and Fukuoka. In recent years he has turned to filmmaking himself, following his 2024 film "Walking in the Movies," which screened in Cannes Classics, with his feature directorial debut "Mr. Kim Goes to the Cinema" in 2025 — a documentary featuring reflections from Lee Chang-dong, Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho and Hirokazu Kore-eda that had its own special screening at last year's BIFF.

"It is a great honor to receive such a prestigious award," Kim said of the recognition, adding that he still attends more than ten international festivals a year to promote Korean cinema.

Alongside the tribute to Kim, BIFF's Asian Cinema Fund revealed the three projects chosen for its 2026 Co-Production Support Fund out of 15 submissions: "Grateful," directed by Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada as a Korea-Japan co-production; "Rhizome," a Thailand-led film by "Anatomy of Time" director Jakrawal Nilthamrong exploring shared wartime histories across Asia, with Korea, France, Laos and Singapore as minority partners; and "TRINITY," an ambitious multi-country project from Singaporean director Boo Junfeng spanning Taiwan, France, Singapore, Poland, Greece, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Now in its second year, the fund has tripled its output and more than doubled its budget, growing from a single supported project worth roughly 65 million won to three projects sharing a combined 140 million won, or about $100,000. ACFM director Ellen Y.D. Kim said the growth reflects strong momentum among the selected films, all of which have already lined up significant financing through their cross-border partnerships.

The dual announcements reinforce Busan's dual identity as both a guardian of Korean cinema's history and a launchpad for its next generation of international collaborations. The 31st Busan International Film Festival runs October 6-15 across venues in Busan, with the accompanying Asian Contents & Film Market taking place October 10-13 at BEXCO.