Zhang Yimou to lead Busan Film Festival competition jury

Chinese director Zhang Yimou has been named the jury president for the second edition of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) Competition section. Zhang, a highly decorated filmmaker with major awards from Berlin, Venice, and Cannes, will lead a seven-member panel tasked with judging 13 films.

The jury includes a diverse group of Asian filmmakers and actors: Chinese auteur Bi Gan, South Korean actress Moon Choi, Japanese director Kei Ishikawa, South Korean filmmaker July Jung, Vietnamese producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, and Kazakh actor Samal Yeslyamova.

Zhang has a long history with the festival, having opened the event in 2010 with ‘Under the Hawthorn Tree’. His recent work includes the 2023 blockbuster ‘Full River Red’.