It takes $10 million for a successful international film festival.

Ông Kim Dong Ho, chủ tịch danh dự Liên hoan phim quốc tế TP.HCM (HIFF) kiêm nhà sáng lập Liên hoan phim quốc tế Busan (BIFF, Hàn Quốc) - Ảnh: T.T.D — Mr. Kim Dong Ho, honorary chairman of Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (HIFF) and founder of Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, Korea) - Photo: TTD

On the afternoon of April 10, Mr. Kim Dong Ho - honorary chairman of the 2024 Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival - had a press meeting on the sidelines of the event.

As the "father" of the Busan International Film Festival - the largest and most prestigious film festival in Asia - Mr. Kim Dong Ho is 87 years old this year but still enthusiastically follows the events of HIFF 2024.

Busan Film Festival needs $10 million, 60% from city

Not only accompanying and advising, he also helped HIFF invite big names such as master director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan) - who considered him a benefactor, directors Kim Jee Won, Kim Han Min (Korea) and many other directors, actors, and producers.

Mr. Kim Dong Ho shared with the Vietnamese press the successes and improvements of HIFF this year.

When asked about the budget needed to organize a successful international film festival, he replied:

"At the Busan Film Festival, as far as I know, for example, although it's not the same every year, it takes 10 million USD to organize a film festival.

The funding from Busan city accounted for 60% of the organization's success.

When asked for his comments for HIFF 2024, Mr. Kim said that next time, greater support from the state and city is needed, especially in terms of budget and human resources.

“If we had more adequate funding, we would be able to invite more influential guests from around the world, to attract more filmmakers, producers, suppliers from all over the world to come here.

They will share about the Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival, sharing Ho Chi Minh City's cinema to the world. Hopefully this will be improved in the next editions."

Hope Vietnamese cinema takes a leading role in Southeast Asia

In its first year, HIFF is focusing on Southeast Asian cinema and some Asian representation. But an international film festival is usually very large in scale with many international guests, not just Southeast Asia or Asia.

In the future, Mr. Kim Dong Ho hopes that Vietnam's HIFF will attract films and filmmakers from Asia, Europe and many other continents and regions to participate.

Các nhà tổ chức liên hoan phim từ Đông Nam Á và châu Á có dịp gặp gỡ tại HIFF 2024 - Ảnh: T.T.D — Film festival organizers from Southeast Asia and Asia have the opportunity to meet at HIFF 2024 - Photo: TTD

Mr. Kim Dong Ho highly appreciated the seminars and discussions at HIFF this year when bringing together founders and organizers of successful film festivals in Southeast Asia and several other countries around the world to Ho Chi Minh City to share experiences.

They are organizers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, diplomats from France, America...

They are all interested in HIFF in particular and Vietnamese cinema in general.

"Hopefully, in the future, the Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival will be a fulcrum for young Vietnamese filmmakers to make better and more meaningful films.

"I hope that Vietnamese cinema will play a leading role for Southeast Asian countries to look at and imitate to develop together," Mr. Kim Dong Ho shared.

Mr. Kim Dong Ho was born in 1937 and is a long-time activist in Korean culture and cinema.

He was the chairman of the Korean Film Promotion Association (now the Korean Film Council - KOFIC) and the chairman of the National Film Rating Board.

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