Korean filmmakers will boycott this year’s Busan International Film Festival unless the organizer -- Busan Metropolitan Government -- guarantees its autonomy, a pan-film industry emergency committee announced Monday.

The emergency committee, formed last year and comprised of local movie producers, directors and screenwriters, requested that the BMG withdraw an injunction filed last Monday to nullify the appointment of 68 new members to the festival’s advisory committee. It further urged the BMG to cease its “wrongful interference” in the festival’s workings, at a press conference at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul.

With the appointment, the advisory committee now holds 107 members and constitutes the majority of the BIFF’s 155-member general assembly, which is additionally comprised of the board and executive committee. The members of three committees hold the right to amend the BIFF‘s articles of association, which specifies their responsibilities and decisions related to BIFF programs and activities. 

The BMG thus took legal action against the additional appointment of advisory committee members on March 14, calling them “unqualified.“

The emergency committee, on the other hand, argued in its statement that the new appointments were made in order to ensure the “freedom” and “independence” of the annual festival, set to take place in October.

“There is no reason for us to step foot on the red carpet when the city is wrongfully accusing (the festival’s executive committee) of foul intentions,” the emergency committee said in its statement. “Busan’s red carpet will be completely empty for the first time in 20 years, while the whole world is watching.”

The emergency committee also called for Suh Byung-soo, Busan mayor and former BIFF chairman, to cease interfering in festival matters. While Suh resigned as chairman last month, BIFF argues that this was no more than a perfunctory move and it still does not have autonomy from the city government under the festival’s current bylaws. The city’s mayor automatically takes up the chairmanship of the film festival. Movie producers seek to exclude the mayor from this position in order to secure the autonomy of BIFF, free from interference of the city government.

This adds to a more-than-a-year-long feud between BIFF and the BMG, who have been at loggerheads since the city government pressured the festival to cancel the screening of “The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol,” a documentary about the Sewol ferry ship sinking in 2014 that raised doubts of the Korean government’s rescue efforts during the disaster 

“The festival should be able to screen films of its choice,” said Ahn Byung-ho, chief of the Federation of Korea Movie Workers’ Union, at the press conference.

The emergency committee was formed last year to defend the independence of the annual global film fest and comprises the Korean Film Producers Association and the Federation of Korea Movie Workers’ Union, along with seven other film industry associations.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)