![Kim Dong-ho, former chairman of the Busan International Film Festival [Busan International Film Festival]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/14/news-p.v1.20260814.89d2a427270146aca41c817cf5779c66_P1.jpg)
Kim Dong-ho, former chairman of the Busan International Film Festival, has been named this year's recipient of the Korean Cinema Award.
The Busan International Film Festival announced Friday that Kim had been selected for the 2026 Korean Cinema Award, recognizing his role in laying the festival's foundations and advancing the global reach of Korean cinema. The award is presented annually to individuals who have contributed to the development and internationalization of Korean film.
Kim previously served as head of the Motion Picture Promotion Corporation, inaugural president of the Seoul Arts Center, and vice minister of culture, among other posts at what was then the Ministry of Culture and Public Information — now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In 1996, he became the inaugural executive director of the Busan International Film Festival, steering its successful launch.
In the festival's early years, he played a decisive role in establishing BIFF as a hub of the Asian cinema network by resisting the then-prevailing practice of pre-screening censorship and defending the festival's freedom of expression and editorial independence.
Kim led the festival until 2010 and continued contributing to the Korean film industry after stepping down — serving as dean of Dankook University's Graduate School of Film and Content, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Cultural Enrichment, and chairman of the BIFF board. He has also served as jury president and juror at festivals including the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard section, the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Fukuoka International Film Festival.
Kim has remained active as a filmmaker as well. "Youthful Filmmaker, Dong-ho" (2024), a documentary retracing his cinematic life, was invited to Cannes Classics at the Cannes Film Festival. The following year, at 88, Kim picked up a camera himself to direct the feature-length documentary "Mr. Kim Goes to the Movies" (2025), which screened as a special presentation at the 30th Busan International Film Festival.
"I consider it an immense honor to receive such a prestigious award," Kim said. "I feel all the more humbled to be recognized by the very festival I founded and worked at for 15 years. Even now, I travel to nearly 10 overseas film festivals every year to promote Korean cinema, and I intend to keep doing so for as long as I am able."
balme@heraldcorp.com
