Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, Oct 6-15) has unveiled 23 Korean and Asian features for the competitive Vision section of its upcoming 31st edition.
Split into two strands – Vision-Korea and Vision-Asia – the titles compete for several awards and recognise independent filmmakers from across Asia.
Scroll down for full Vision lineup
This year’s Vision-Asia selection includes films spanning Vietnam, Japan and India to Thailand, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Iran and Mongolia.
They include 1982, about a filmmaker’s search for her missing mother, from Vietnam’s Nguyen Hoang Diep, whose debut Flapping In The Middle Of Nowhere won best film at Venice Critics’ Week in 2014.
Filipino filmmaker Arvin Belarmino, whose short Agapito played in competition at Cannes last year, makes his anticipated feature debut with Ria, the story of a folk-punk musician fighting to save his home.
Mongolian director Sakhya Byamba, who won BIFF’s New Currents Award in 2013 with Remote Control, returns with Zogsool, a satire set in an isolated gas station.
Japan’s Ryohei Kumamoto will bring his feature debut to BIFF with After the Song, a teen coming-of-age story. The filmmaker has a background in commercials and music video directing.
Japan’s second pick, Hinotama: Ball of Fire, is directed by Yaza Takenoshin who first drew attention aged 16 with a documentary short on nuclear power titled The Story of the Largest Kettle in Japan.
Two Indian filmmakers have been selected this year: Sailesh Rathnakumar with Selvi, produced by and starring acclaimed actor Anjali Patil; and Shashank Walia with feature debut Birds In The Dark, the story of a police informant.
Iranian director Mani Moghaddam confronts his country’s oppressive realities through magical realism in Slumber, his feature film debut. Actor Inthira Charoenpura of Thai record-breaker Nang Nak also directs her first feature alongside co-director Phensiri Klangsurin in coming-of-age story Bua.
Hong Kong filmmaker Isabella Lam Lok-hin will also bring debut feature Dead End, about a man who confronts his long-absent half-brother. From Kazakhstan, Darkhan Tulegenov rounds out the section with The Cord after receiving recognition with 2022’s Bratya.
Vision-Korea
The Vision-Korea strand includes several titles by previous Busan award-winners. They include Some Detective from Kim Miyoung, whose A Lonely Island In The Distant Sea won the DGK Megabox Award at BIFF 2023. Kim’s latest about a writer confronted by figures from her past.
Park Songyeol also returns to Busan with Beyond Love’s Horizon after winning the Critic b Award and the KBS Independent Film Award with Hot In Day, Cold At Night in 2021.
Jang Woojin explores love and loss in Cosmic Trace. His first feature, A Fresh Start, won the grand prize in the Korean Competition of Jeonju in 2014, while Autumn, Autumn won the Vision-Director’s Award at Busan in 2016.
Three years after his debut That Summer’s Lie was awarded the Fipresci Prize at BIFF 2023, Sohn Hyun-lok returns with The Birds, which explores a string of student accidents. Park Hong-min brings his new film Space to Busan after winning the Citizen Critics’ Award twice at the festival – with A Fish in 2011 and Hong-ja in 2015.
Jeong Jihye brings Full Moon to Busan four years after winning Rome’s grand jury prize and the grand prize in the Korean Competition at Jeonju with her debut feature Jeong-soon.
Oh Sehyeon is back at Busan with Baler after her film Usu was invited to the festival in 2021. Following 2022’s No Surprise and 2025’s Maze, Shin Sun returns with Nothing Has Happened Yet, which tells the story of a woman who can see the future but wishes to forget the past.
Animated features include Earbug from Kim Hyomu, about an aspiring novelist, and The Flower from Kim Si-jin, which depicts mysterious events that occur in a crematorium. Both are feature debuts.
Park Kun-young, whose credits include 2019’s To My River and 2021’s A Distance Place, returns with Things I Left at the Theater. Shin Dongmin’s latest, Not For You, follows the healing journey two brothers take following their father’s departure.
Both Not For You and Some Detective received post-production support from BIFF’s Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) in June.
The Vision section expanded last year from Korean Cinema Today – Vision into a standalone programme that celebrates filmmakers from across Asia, with the 2025 winners led by Reza Rahadian’s On Your Lap.
BIFF 2026 Vision-Korea
Baler
Dir. Oh Sehyeon
Beyond Love’s Horizon
Dir. Park Songyeol
The Birds
Dir. Sohn Hyun-lok
Cosmic Trace
Dir. Jang Woojin
Earbug
Dir. Kim Hyomi
The Flower
Dir. Kim Si-jin
Full Moon
Dir. Jeong Jihye
Not For You
Dir. Shin Dongmin
Nothing Has Happened Yet
Dir. Shin Sun
Some Detective
Dir. Kim Miyoung
Space
Dir. Park Hong-min
Things I Left At The Theater
Dir. Park Kun-young
BIFF 2026 Vision-Asia
1982 (Viet)
Dir. Nguyen Hoang Diep
After The Song (Japan)
Dir. Ryohei Kumamoto
Birds In The Dark (India)
Dir. Shashank Walia
Bua (Thai)
Dirs. Inthira Charoenpura, Phensiri Klangsurin
The Cord (Kazak)
Dir. Darkhan Tulegenov
Dead End (HK-China)
Dir. Isabella Lam Lok-hin
Hinotama: Ball Of Fire (Japan)
Dir. Yaza Takenoshin
Ria (Phil-Neth-Nor-Saudi-Japan)
Dir. Arvin Belarmino
Selvi (India-Saudi)
Dir. Sailesh Rathnakumar
Slumber (Iran)
Dir. Mani Moghaddam
Zogsool (Mong-Ger)
Dir. Sakhya Byamba
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