Live updates

Why is Busan trending?

Updated 07/10/2026, 11:54:36 UTC

Busan is drawing attention across 1 news outlets right now. The reports below are the current coverage, newest first.

The coverage

Disney+ to Name New Australia Commissioner, Keeps Southeast Asia ‘On the Menu’ as It Triples Local Output

Disney+ is about to name a new commissioner in Australia and has not ruled out a return to production in Southeast Asia, Jon Wax, executive VP of international original television at Disney Entertainment, said Wednesday at the Busan International Film Festival. Wax, set out the streamer’s Asia-Pacific plans at a fireside chat at the Park […]

EntertainmentVariety2h ago

‘Will You Still Be My Friend’ Director Lu Po-Shun on Finding Common Ground From San Sebastian to Busan

When Variety spoke with Taiwanese director Lu Po-Shun in March, he was seeking final financing for his debut feature, “Will You Still Be My Friend,” a coming-of-age drama weaving adolescent friendship with local politics and solar energy development. Now, following its San Sebastián premiere and two Golden Horse nominations, Lu is bringing the film to […]

EntertainmentVariety2h ago

Chinese Landscape Painting Film Series Will Run to a Fourth Installment, Says ‘First Taste of Loneliness’ Director Gu You (EXCLUSIVE)

Chinese filmmaker Gu You’s films modeled on Chinese landscape painting will not stop at three. The director of The First Taste of Loneliness, which world premiering in competition at the Busan International Film Festival, tells Variety that a fourth installment is already in research and development, and that it may lean toward genre. The new […]

EntertainmentVariety6h ago

Maggie Gyllenhaal Says Directors Who Squash Collaborators Are ‘Very Scared’ or ‘Just Not Very Smart’

Maggie Gyllenhaal told a Busan International Film Festival press conference on Wednesday that the best directors she worked with as an actress, who were usually also the most successful, understood the value of drawing on the minds of the people around them. It was the people who were very scared… or just not very smart, […]

EntertainmentVariety7h ago

Zhang Yimou Says ‘The Three-Body Problem’ Script Is Still Being Polished After Several Years: ‘It Is Very Difficult to Adapt’

Zhang Yimou is still reworking the script for his film adaptation of The Three-Body Problem, years into the process, the Chinese director said during the opening ceremony of the Busan International Film Festival, where he is president of this year’s competition jury. Questioned by festival director Jung Hanseok, Zhang said he is currently preparing a […]

EntertainmentVariety7h ago

Michelle Yeoh Calls ‘Blade Runner 2099’ an ‘Amazing Journey,’ Rules Out Directing at Busan

Michelle Yeoh turned her attention to Blade Runner 2099 at a Busan International Film Festival press conference on Wednesday, before she flies to New York Comic Con to promote the Prime Video series. To be given an opportunity to take it to 2099 is indeed an amazing journey, and to work with such a great […]

EntertainmentVariety7h ago

Busan Jury President Zhang Yimou Weighs In on ‘The Assassin(s)’ History Row as Juror July Jung Says Her ‘Heart Feels So Cold’

Zhang Yimou, president of the Busan International Film Festival’s competition jury, waded into the dispute over historical fact and creative freedom that has engulfed Korean cinema, telling a press conference on Wednesday that history itself is written by people. The question from the press did not name a title, but the debate centers on Hur […]

EntertainmentVariety11h ago

Eddie Redmayne’s Kore-eda Hirokazu Film Is Still Being Scripted, Director Says at Busan

Eddie Redmayne’s upcoming collaboration with Kore-eda Hirokazu is still at the screenplay stage, the Japanese filmmaker said Wednesday at a Busan International Film Festival press conference for his manga adaptation Look Back. Right now, I am writing the script, Kore-eda said about the Searchlight Pictures film. I cannot share specific plot details at this stage, […]

EntertainmentVariety13h ago

Lee Chang-dong, Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu on Class, Desire and Reunion in Venice and Busan Drama ‘Possible Love’

Every great love story, in Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong’s telling, is secretly a story about love that cannot happen — class, status or fate standing in the way. His new film dares to ask the opposite question, and it took him the better part of two decades, one abandoned script about a 2009 workers’ strike […]

EntertainmentVariety14h ago

‘The Table: Day and Night’ Review: Café-Based Korean Romance With Kim Min-ha and Han Sun-hwa Is All Froth, No Kick

An artisanal café in a quiet yet fashionable Seoul neighborhood provides the setting for a quartet of seasonal vignettes in Kim Jong-kwan’s romantic anthology The Table: Day and Night. Opening this year’s Busan Film Festival, the film — with its star-studded ensemble including Kim Min-ha, Shim Eun-kyung and Han Sun-hwa — will ensure a glitzy […]

EntertainmentVariety23h ago

Fan Bingbing, Michelle Yeoh, Charlotte Gainsbourg Dazzle as Busan Turns 31 in Style

The Busan International Film Festival marked its 31st edition Tuesday with one of its most star-laden opening ceremonies in recent memory, drawing Fan Bingbing, Michelle Yeoh, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alfonso Cuarón, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Lee Chang-dong, Na Hong-jin, and a roll call of Asian cinema’s finest to the port city for a night that mixed Hollywood glamour […]

EntertainmentVariety6d ago

Venice Golden Lion Winner Milcho Manchevski’s ‘Sister Brother Manhole Cover’ Heads to Tokyo for World Premiere, Trailer Unveiled (EXCLUSIVE)

Sister Brother Manhole Cover, the new feature from Venice Golden Lion winner Milcho Manchevski, will world premiere in the Tokyo International Film Festival’s main competition. Variety is debuting the trailer. Francesca Breccia’s Coccinelle Film Sales is handling the film and will start selling it to international buyers during Busan’s Asian Contents Film Market. Manchevski […]

This explainer is written from the reports listed above. Follow any headline for the original coverage.

Take a quiz