Zhang Yimou to Lead Busan Competition Jury — SkimNews
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- Zhang Yimou named Jury President for the main competition at Busan International Film Festival (October 6-15), heading a seven-member panel in the festival's second-ever fully-fledged competition
- Six fellow jurors confirmed: Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan (Resurrection), Korean actress Moon Choi (Bedford Park), Japanese director Kei Ishikawa (A Pale View Of Hills), Korean director July Jung (Dora), Vietnamese producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc (Skin Of Youth), and Kazakh actress Samal Yeslyamova (Ayka)
- Jury will award five categories — Best Film, Best Director, Special Jury Prize, Best Actor, and Artistic Contribution — drawn from a previously announced 13-title competition slate, with $80,000 (KRW 110m) in total prize money
- Academy Awards rule change introduced in May means Busan's Best Film winner is now automatically submitted for Best International Feature consideration, giving the still-young competition section a direct Oscars pipeline
- Inaugural edition of the competition launched last year, when Zhang Lu's Chinese drama Gloaming In Luomu took the first Busan Award for Best Film
- Additional juries announced: Vision–Asia section's NETPAC jury (Nina Kochelyaeva, Matthew Poon, Lee Dongha) and FIPRESCI jury (Ma Xingxu, Teresa Vena, Roh Chul-Hwan); BIFF Mecenat jurors for the Feature Documentary Competition (Rintu Thomas, Kim Taeil, Zhou Hao); and Sonje Award jury (Anuparna Roy, Abinash Bikram Shah, Lee Ranhee)
Why it matters: Busan's competition is only in its second year, but the May Academy Awards rule change turns its Best Film winner into an automatic Oscar Best International Feature submission — giving the jury real awards-season stakes. Zhang Yimou's chairmanship brings heavyweight global prestige to a section still establishing its identity after Zhang Lu's Gloaming In Luomu took the inaugural prize.
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