Busan, the country's largest port city, will host various kinds of festivals during the month of October this year. These include the 10th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), a cultural festival celebrating a summit of leaders from 21 countries for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference (APEC), and other events.
Here is a list of the various cultural festivals and events visitors can enjoy in Busan, "the city with a beautiful seascape", amid the heavy scent of autumn.
◇The 10th PIFF
The PIFF will mark its 10th anniversary of its founding as a representative international film festival in Asia, with many film buffs invited to this year's festival to experience more substantial content.
For this year's festival, a total of 307 films from 73 countries, classified into nine categories -- including "Windows of Asia", "New Waves", "World Cinema", and "A Retrospective Show of Korean Films" -- will be shown in the Nampo-dong and Haeundae areas in Busan.
In addition to the main events and the opening and closing ceremonies, the PIFF will hold a variety of auxiliary events, such as the PPP (Pusan Promotion Plan)--a pre-festival film market, a hand printing event, a dialogue with the audience, and reception parties for the stars and producers from each nation. Some 5,000 domestic and foreign stars and film producers and about 200,000 viewers are expected to attend the film festival.
The opening ceremony of the PIFF will be held at the Yachting Race Venue in Bay of Suyong, Busan on Oct. 6 at 8:00 p.m. The Taiwanese film "Three Times, 最好的時光: Best of Our Times" (2005, directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien) will be shown as the opening film.
The closing ceremony will be held at the same site on Oct. 14 at 8:00 p.m., with the Korean film "My Wedding Campaign" (2005, directed by Hwang Byeong-gook) shown as the final film.
Marking the 10th anniversary of its founding this year, the PIFF will hold various unique and meaningful events such as a special showing of films from the participating countries of the APEC, the launching of the Asia Film Academy, the publication of a white paper, the production of a documentary film, a retrospective show of the late film director Lee Man-hee (李晩熙, 1931-1975), and a reception party for Busan citizens upon the closing the festival.
◇APEC cultural events:
The Pusan International Prints Festival is currently being held at the Exhibition Room on the second floor of the Busan City Hall and at the Busan Citizens Hall from Sept. 28 until Oct. 7, showing at total of 240 prints and engravings of various kinds created by a total of 108 representative printmakers from the 21 participating countries of the APEC.
APEC's cultural events will include a play entitled "Road" (at the Geumjeong Culture Hall, Oct. 1-3), a concert of film music performed by an orchestra (at the Grand Theater of the Busan Culture Hall, Oct. 8), a concert of traditional and new wave music entitled "Taepyong" (太平, peace, at the Busan Culture Hall, Oct. 9), a concert of fusion music featuring traditional and classical music (at the Busan Culture Hall, Oct. 12), and a dance entitled "Pan-Pacific Teeter-tottering" (at the Busan Culture Hall, Oct. 16).
Other events will provide visitors with a chance to experience various cultural genres. They will be a gala performance of the world's classical ballet works (at the Busan Culture Hall, Oct. 17-20), a concert called "Forever in Busan" performed by world-famous jazz musicians (at the Grand Theater of the Busan Culture Hall, Oct. 29), an outdoor sculpture show (at the outdoor plaza and the lobby of the main building of the Geumjeong Ward Office, Oct. 2-20), a martial art-style percussion performance called "Whituta" (at the Geumjeong Culture Hall, Oct. 27-29), and a play portraying the love between a young Korean man and the daughter of a senior British customs official during the later years of the Joseon Dynasty (at the Gamagol Small Theater, Oct. 20-Nov. 13).
◇Other festivals:
The Jagalchi Festival will be held by the merchants of the Jagalchi Fish Market, Busan's representative traditional fish market and a tourist attraction, on Oct 12-16.
Visitors can taste raw fish of various kinds, such as dotted gizzard shad, file fish, black rock fish, and sea bream, and buy gruel made with abalone and roasted shellfish at 60-70 percent of the prices of other areas. In addition, visitors will be able to have fun participating in various other events, such as "Search for a pearl in a box of octopus", "Catch eel with hands", and "A surprise public sale of fish".
The "Gijang Conger Festival", where visitors can relish the taste of conger, or sea eel (also known as "Anago"), which is a delicacy of Busan, will be held at the Bay of Busan on Oct. 21-22.
Other festivals will include the "History Festival at the Dongnae Castle" (Oct. 5-9) which has become an outdoor festival, the "Yongdo Shellmound Festival" (Oct. 8-9) where visitors can get a glimpse of the Neolithic Age, and the "Sasang Pampas Grass Festival" which will be held for the first this year and where visitors can get the chance to relish the scent of autumn in the field of pampas grass at Mount Seunghak.
Other festivals will also include the "Beomoh Temple Gaesan Grand Cultural Festival" (Oct. 1-3) where visitors can experience Buddhist culture, the "Geumjeong Art Festival" (Oct. 4-8), and the "Nakdong Folk Art Festival" (Oct. 8-9).
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