The 30th Busan International Film Festival is shaping up like a global streaming takeover, with Netflix front and center.
Byun Sung-hyun’s Good News plants itself in the 1970s, where a hijacked plane becomes a pressure cooker of paranoia, power plays, and survival instincts gone feral. The film already stirred buzz at Toronto and now lands in Busan as the first Korean Gala invite in years — with Sul Kyung-gu, Hong Kyung, and Ryoo Seung-bum leading the charge.
Disaster comes home in The Great Flood. A submerged apartment complex becomes humanity’s final battleground, with Kim Da-mi and Park Hae-soo fighting not just the water but the end of the world itself.
On the series side, Netflix lights up BIFF’s On Screen lineup. As You Stood By dives into a brutal decision — two women kill to survive, only to spiral into darker consequences. Romantics Anonymous offers the opposite vibe, with Sho Tsukikawa steering a tender story of intimacy between a man who can’t be touched and a woman who can’t look up, carried by Shun Oguri and Han Hyo-joo. Last Samurai Standing goes full bloodsport, tossing nearly 300 warriors into a fight-to-the-death set in 19th-century Japan. Taiwan counters with The Resurrected, where grief, revenge, and the supernatural collide as Shu Qi and Sinje Lee raise the dead to fight for their daughters.
BIFF also turns its spotlight on Netflix’s U.S. arsenal. Noah Baumbach rolls out Jay Kelly, with George Clooney as a fading movie icon and Adam Sandler as the manager who won’t let him crash. Guillermo del Toro resurrects Frankenstein with his gothic signature. Kathryn Bigelow detonates A House of Dynamite, a nerve-rattling thriller sparked by one rogue missile.
The festival doesn’t just screen — it builds. Creative Asia returns September 20, pulling together global talent for masterclasses, deep-dive sessions, and a look at where Asian cinema goes next.
From hijacked planes to drowned cities, sword duels to resurrected villains, BIFF 2025 is stacked. Netflix arrives with heat, stretching across Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Hollywood — and the lineup is designed to hit hard.
