The 12th Pusan International Film Festival, scheduled to wrap up its nine-day schedule on Friday, is struggling to brush aside a stream of criticism about its poor operation, delays and unexpected cancellations.
Although the festival remains the country's biggest event for filmmakers, actors, movie critics and, most importantly, fans, this year's event experienced problems that raised questions over whether organizers have become too complacent about the festival's high status.
The scale of the festival is getting bigger each year, featuring 275 films this year. But the overall atmosphere is said to be subdued, partly because of the bad weather.
Another problem involves the frequent delays and changes in venue without prior notice, disappointing fans who had greater hopes for the festival.
For instance, the outdoor event for a film titled "881" was originally scheduled for Saturday at the Nampo-dong PIFF Square, but Busan citizens and movie fans were not told that it was put off until the last minute.
The high-profile Open Talk session between Jeon Do-yeon and Kang Soo-yeon also took place at Bean Pole Avenue, a last-minute change of venue that perplexed fans who had earlier come to the outdoor stage where it was supposed to be held. No official notice was issued about the change.
Compared with last year, the number of stars visiting Busan has declined. Notable foreign guests including Takuya Kimura stayed only briefly, and even Korean stars cut short their stay in the southeastern port city, citing busy schedules.
More baffling was the not-so-graceful incident involving Ennio Morricone, a world-renowned musician who visited Busan to participate in the opening ceremony. Displeased by the way he was treated on the stage, Morricone did not show up at the opening-night party. PIFF organizers denied that Morricone left the festival earlier than scheduled because he was not treated properly.
The local press were also snubbed, albeit indirectly. The organizers issued press passes to those who claimed they were reporters, but it turned out that some of the passes ended up in the hands of Japanese fans who wanted to sneak into the press events.
The biggest obstacle, of course, was the harsh weather, which often left outdoor events delayed or cancelled. Michelle Yeoh, known for her role in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", was scheduled to meet with local fans at the outdoor stage yesterday afternoon, but the organizing committee found it difficult to go ahead with the event because of the rain. It explored other venues, but failed to set up the event for Yeoh, citing her schedule, and the event was cancelled. The PIFF organizers issued a formal announcement for the cancellation, and apologized for the sudden change.
It is true that PIFF has expanded its scale and influence in the past decade. It started with 169 films from 31 countries in 1996, aiming to become Asia's major film festival, and its stature increased. It now boasts of 275 films from 64 countries, and a more sophisticated ticket reservation system. About 120,000 reservation tickets were sold via the revamped system, up 34,000 from last year, and about 150,000 people from home and abroad visited Busan.
But many of the fans expected to see more stars and filmmakers. Last year, a steady stream of stage events at the PIFF Village entertained visiting fans throughout the day, but this year the number of such fan-oriented stage events has been cut down to just seven so far.
In addition, critics point to the dearth of new Korean films making a formal debut at the festival. The bulk of the Korean films being screened during the festival have already been released, dampening interest.
English 
![Freeze (CGV TV Series) (US Version) [DVD]](images/banner_photo68.jpg "Freeze (CGV TV Series) (US Version) [DVD]")
US$5 off (order min. US$5)
