The 28th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) recently announced three selections for Korean Cinema Today - Special Premiere and six selections for their On Screen showings. Korean Cinema Today - Special Premiere is a section that premieres mainstream Korean commercial films. This year’s chosen films are Believer 2, Ballerina and Hopeless.

Believer 2, the sequel to Believer (2018), is directed by Baik, who also directed The Beauty Inside (2015) and features Cho Jin-woong, Cha Seung-won, Han Hyo-joo, and Oh Seung-hoon.

Ballerina, directed by Lee Chung-hyun of Call (2020), will also be screened as a world premiere. This film depicts a tale of revenge featuring a formidable female warrior played by Jeon Jong-seo.

Hopeless, officially selected for Un Certain Regard in the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, will be screened as an Asian premiere at this year’s BIFF. The film is directed by Kim Chang-hoon and stars Song Joong-ki.

On Screen presents drama series that encompass the changing trends and values of cinema. Selections include The Deal, I Am A Running Mate, Vigilante, Cigarette Girl, A Bloody Lucky Day and LTNS.

The Deal is a Wavve original series in which two young men happen to kidnap their friend and demand ten billion won as ransom. The cast features Yoo Seung-ho, Kim Dong-hwi, Yoo Su-bin and Lee Joo-young.

I Am A Running Mate portrays an ordinary student trying to become student president. It’s the directorial debut of Han Jin-won, winner of the Best Original Screenplay at the 2020 Academy Awards as a co-writer for Parasite (2019). The film stars Yoon Hyun-soo, Lee Jung-sic, Choi Woo-sung, Hong Hwa-yeon, and Lee Bong-jun.

Vigilante depicts a police academy student who dispenses justice to crafty adversaries. It stars Nam Joo-hyuk, Yoo Ji-tae, Lee Jun-hyuk and Kim Soj-in. The source-material webtoon garnered 370 million global views.

Cigarette Girl is an Indonesian mystery set in 1960’s Indonesia. In this story a female protagonist tenaciously pursues her dreams despite obligations to her family and society. Kamila Andini’s story is based on the novel by Ratih Kumala.

A Bloody Lucky Day, directed by Pil Gam-sung, commences with a happy-go-lucky taxi driver picking up a young murderer as a long-distance passenger. It’s based on the webtoon with the same title. The story stars Lee Sung-min, Yoo Yeon-seok and Lee Jung-eun.

LTNS is a whimsical comedy that follows a young couple’s transformation into an unlikely blackmailing duo. Lim Dae-hyung, who directed Moonlit Winter (2019) and Jeon Go-woon, director of Microhabitat (2017) jointly contributed as co-writers and co-producers. Esom and Ahn Jae-hong, known for their chemistry in Microhabitat (2017), are expected to rekindle their on-screen dynamic.

The 28th Busan International Film Festival will be held for 10 days from Oct 4 to 13 in the vicinity of the Busan Cinema Center, Busan, South Korea.