Lee Yong-kwan, one of the original founders of the Busan International Film Festival, says he is stepping down as the event’s chairman – this time with immediate effect.
He says the move is intended to defuse a morass of factional infighting and political interference surrounding Asian’s most prominent film festival.
A festival spokesman told Variety that the board of directors “has decided to persuade the chairperson to return. So, the resignation has not been accepted yet.”
Lee had already tendered his resignation once before, after a series of management missteps had thrown the event into disarray since early May. But he was subsequently persuaded to stick with the event until this year’s edition in October had been delivered.
On Wednesday, however, Lee said that continuing strife, notably external forces which had sought to politicize the recent comings and goings, meant that his plan to remain as caretaker for the next three months was no longer tenable.
“Just a few days ago, I was faced with a petition from members of the People Power Party of the Culture, Sports & Tourism Committee of the National Assembly. As they dragged up the nightmares from screening ‘The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol’ (2014) and the blacklist incident, they revealed their intention to frame the Busan International Film Festival as ‘leftist’ once again,” said Lee in a statement circulated in Korean and English.
“I was able to [understand] their intended outcome. In this vicious cycle that repeated itself each time throughout the three political party changes, I was at the beginning and end of the repetition. If that is the case, will my resignation stop their atrocities. Although I do not believe so, I judged that now is the time to step aside.”
Film festivals in Korea are intensely political, with the issue of creative freedom and resistance to regulatory oversight at the root of many skirmishes. Each of the country’s biggest three festivals – Busan, Jeonju and the BiFan fantasy festival – has previously seen poisonous factional infighting.
The Busan festival’s 2014 screening of a Michael Moore-style campaigning documentary “The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol” in defiance of the wishes of the city mayor, kicked off the darkest sequence of fighting in the sector. The then mayor, who was allied with the right-wing national government of the day, used his ex officio position to slash the festival’s funding and punish festival officials, including Lee. (The country’s then president, Park Geun-hye, with whom the mayor was allied, was subsequently jailed for corruption and interference in the film industry.) The dispute spilled over several years, caused an industry boycott and the injection of temporary management.
The latest management meltdown began in May when Lee split the festival director’s job in two and appointed Cho Jongkook to the new position of managing director. Cho has since been dismissed.
Lee’s letter says that Cho’s appointment was in line with the Vision 2030 plan for reform of the festival, spelled out in a lengthy document published in October last year. But Cho’s appointment was followed by the abrupt resignation of festival director Huh Moonyoung.
Huh is now being investigated by the Center for Gender Equality in Korean Cinema after a complaint of sexual harassmwent by a festival employee. Via Korean media, Huh has denied the accusations, but says he will not return to the cauldron of the festival. Huh has not responded to Variety‘s requests for comment.
“The reason for the unexpected flow of events was due to the sudden announcement of resignation and disappearance of the festival director [Huh], and, since then, groundless rumors, created by certain filmmakers and media in Busan, acquainted with the festival director, built upon misunderstandings and speculations [..]. With the further addition of political disputes, the film festival became a battleground between internal and external conflict and partisanship,” Lee’s letter said.
“Internal reform and resistance, division and antagonism between the executive committee and programmers, indiscriminate attacks by dissatisfied external parties and media outlets and the wrongful usurpation of cultural power. I take full responsibility for this situation, which was due to my own incompetence and vice, and lay everything down. And so, I ask everybody who loves the Busan International Film Festival, please stop the violent political stigma and intervention. I will take full blame for the past incidents and depart,” Lee’s letter continued.
But Lee seems unwilling to let matters lie without throwing another punch. While hoping for insults against the festival to stop and for the programming staff to be allowed to finish doing their job, he also calls for vigilance and punishment.
“Please strictly discipline the wrong and immoral acts of some current executive members and Busan filmmakers, who attempted to use ‘The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol’ and blacklist incident as an opportunity to expand their power. […] I sincerely hope that the authority of the board of directors and the executive committee will be restored.”
It is not clear whether the festival will appoint an interim chairman or when it might be able to name a permanent replacement.
“The composition and roles of the [Reform Committee] will be set after collecting opinions from the film industry and civil groups. The election of the next chairperson will be one of the roles of the committee. Therefore, as of now, the delegation of a new chairperson is not scheduled,” the festival told Variety.
At a general assembly on Monday, the festival confirmed this year’s edition will be headed by lead programmer Nam Dong-chul and deputy director Kang Seung-ah, acting as managing director.
