Busan has always been the new starting point for Korean cinema. The first Korean film production company, Choson Kinema Corporation, was organized in Busan in colonial Korea. Film critics who fled to Busan during the Korean War founded the Korean Association of Film Critics. The Buil Film Awards, established in Busan in 1958, were the first Korean film awards. In the 1990s, Busan was at the center of the renaissance of Korean films with the launching of the Busan International Film Festival, the Busan Film Commission, and Cinematheque Busan. Since then, it has grown into a global city of the cinema.

Busan was also the place where master filmmaker Im Kwon-taek began his new life. Many filmmakers visited Busan to capture dynamic images of romance, vitality, despair, and hope. This year’s special exhibition has been designed in remembrance of the special relationship Busan has with cinema and to continue its chronicle of hope.