The 24th Busan International Film Festival selects highly-acclaimed Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu as the recipient of the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award. The Asian Filmmaker of the Year is presented annually to a notable film professional or organization that has shown outstanding contributions to developing the Asian film industry and culture.

Kore-eda Hirokazu won the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifter (2018), solidifying his position as a world-class film master. He has been loved and highly praised by the media, critics and viewers for his keen insight into the complexity of modern family relationships in his films: Nobody Knows (2004), Like Father, Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), and Shoplifter (2018). Kore-eda is known for his strong affection for the Busan International Film Festival as proven by the director's frequent visits to festival every year a new film of his is released. The director's strong bond with the Busan International Film Festival continued with a special talk held in 2016 with world-renowned and contemporary Asian directors Hou Hsiao-hsien and Lee Chang-dong. This talk offered one of the most extensive discussions in hopes of a mutual development for Asian cinema, the region where solidarity among filmmakers is considered somewhat weak, compared to those in the Western film industry. In the following year, Kore-eda Hirokazu joined the Asian Film Academy (AFA) as a dean of the program, where he took the lead in teaching young Asian filmmakers.

Director Kore-eda Hirokazu has sought new opportunities with the Busan International Film Festival for the future development of the Asian film industry, and has recently expanded the scope of projects by participating in productions by young talented directors. In honor of his life-time contributions to the film industry, the Busan International Film Festival, with special respect to one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, has decided to award Kore-eda Hirokazu the “Asian Filmmaker of the Year”.

Asian Filmmaker of the Year will be awarded to the director Kore-eda Hirokazu at the premier of his latest film The Truth, official selection for the Gala Presentation section on Saturday, October 5 at 19:30.