Busan Jury Defends Creative Freedom in 'Assassin(s)' History Row — SkimNews
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- Zhang Yimou, president of the 31st Busan International Film Festival competition jury, told a Wednesday press conference that he hasn't seen 'The Assassin(s)' but argued 'history is also written by people, so is history itself truly real?'
- Juror July Jung, director of 'Next Sohee,' broke the moderator's suggestion to move on, saying 'my heart feels so cold as a filmmaker' amid attacks on films drawn from real events, while stressing that 'the people who make films bear all the responsibility within it.'
- Hur Jin-ho's 'The Assassin(s)', a thriller about the Aug. 15, 1974 shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo, has been accused by conservative politicians of distorting history because its open ending avoids naming who ordered the attack beyond gunman Mun Se-gwang.
- A former People Power Party Seoul city councilor asked Seoul police to investigate Hur, the production company's CEO, and the film's two writers for defamation, prompting the Directors Guild of Korea to condemn 'attacks on individuals that have crossed the line.'
- The film topped the Korean admissions chart over the Oct. 2–4 weekend despite the controversy and is set to open the Singapore International Film Festival on Oct. 21.
- Fellow juror Bi Gan ('Resurrection') joked that his films 'are always at a disadvantage at film festivals, because they only need to watch them once,' while first-time juror Moon Choi said a good film 'poses questions instead of handing out answers.'
- The 31st BIFF runs through Oct. 15, with Zhang heading a seven-member jury that includes Chinese director Bi Gan, Kazakh actor Samal Yeslyamova, Japanese director Ishikawa Kei, Vietnamese producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, and Korean actor Moon Choi.
Why it matters: By stepping into a domestic Korean political controversy, an international jury lent global weight to a debate that has escalated from online criticism to police complaints against filmmakers, while the targeted film simultaneously led the Korean box office — exposing the gap between political condemnation and audience behavior.
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