ANNOUNCEMENTS

📣 Arts East-West’s First Look at BIFF: Competition Jury 📣 

7 jurors at the 31st BIFF Competition. 
An international jury of directors, actors, and producers.
Awards honouring the next generation of Asian filmmakers. 

2026 marks the second year since BIFF launched the Busan Awards, highlighting the most compelling works from contemporary Asian cinema. Meet the jurors: 

• Director ZHANG Yimou; Jury President; China; winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival

• Director BI Gan; China; director of Resurrection (2025), which won the Artistic Contribution Award at BIFF last year

• Actor Moon CHOI; South Korea; lead actor and producer of Bedford Park (2026), selected for this year’s BIFF

• Director ISHIKAWA Kei; Japan; director of A Man (2022), which won eight Japan Academy Film Prizes

• Director July JUNG; South Korea; whose latest feature film Dora (2026) is selected for this year’s BIFF  

• Producer TRAN Thi Bich Ngoc; Vietnam; who oversees the Project Market and Talent Project at the Da Nang Asian Film Festival 

• Actor Samal YESLYAMOVA; Kazakhstan; winner of Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 

The prizes will be awarded across five categories from the Competition section: Best Film, Best Director, Special Jury Prize, Best Actor, and Artistic Contribution. For more details on the selected films, view our last post. 

The MAiFF team looks forward to discovering the newest emerging talents from the fresh wave of Asian cinema at the 31st BIFF.