Joining The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC)Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF) becomes the first short film festival in the nation to join NETPAC, and second in the world following Bangladesh’s Dhaka International Short & Independent Film Festival. Comprised of 28 countries, 44 film festivals and about 150 members, NETPAC was founded in 1990, beginning with seminars regarding Asian Films in Cinemaya, a quarterly publication about Asian films. Aside from hosting academic events and publications, especially for the promotion of Asian films, it selects the best Asian film among the enrolled film festivals to award the NETPAC Award. 

Currently in Korea, the NETPAC Award is being given at the Busan International Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival, and Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. It is also awarded at distinguished film festivals around the world, including Germany’s Berlin International Film Festival, Netherland’s International Film Festival Rotterdam, and America's Hawaii International Film Festival. 

BISFF Festival Director YANG Youngchul declared that “joining NETPAC is an important first step to bring BISFF into the hub of Asian short films. To do so,” he further noted, “BISFF 2015 has not only brought in the NETPAC Award, but also established the Asian Short Section. Also, in order to celebrate the 25th year of NETPAC, a major figure from the organization will participate in our film festival and host a seminar discussing the present state of Asian short films.”

Busan International Short Film Festival 2015 Competition entries closed with a total of 4,627 films submitted. 

International Competition had 4,278 entries from 114 countries (which is double that of last year's 2,076 from 94 countries) while Korean Competition had 481 entries.

Notably, films from Asia had increased threefold (155 films from 16 countries in 2014, 429 films from 19 countries in 2015 – Korean films excluded). The finalists for the International Competition and Korean Competition will be announced on March 3 on the official homepage (www.bisff.org). Selected films will be screened during the film festival, April 24-28, 2015, where they will compete for 10 different award categories.  

by Philip Cheah