Standing at Haeundae Event Square in Busan’s Haeundae District, director Jeong Ji-young gave the dispute its bluntest formulation. “Asking questions about the riddles left by history is a director's duty, political bickering is laughable,” he said at an emergency press conference on a film controversy.
The gathering came as the Busan International Film Festival closed its 31st edition, which ran from 6–15 October 2026. The festival drew 200,043 admissions to screenings, its highest tally since 2015, and 277,027 attendees when talks, outdoor events and side programmes were included.
It was the festival’s largest film audience in more than a decade. Total attendance was around 40,000 higher than at last year’s milestone 30th edition.
Organisers credited a new opening date and a larger screening slate for the rise. The programme also included the Asian Contents & Film Market.
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Yet the attendance milestone arrived alongside a political firestorm involving a Korean box office hit and an Iranian director’s war speech. Filmmakers gathered in Busan for the emergency press conference in response.
A statement issued at the event said: “Politics must not substitute for the audience's judgment”. The festival’s jury chief also said that “creation is only creation” amid the controversy around the Korean film.
The festival’s crowd figures told one story of renewed public appetite. The press conference set out another: filmmakers defending the space to put history and conflict on screen against political scrutiny.
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