Adjustment (2022) 

The Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF), the short film festival that has the longest history in Korea, closed on May 2. The 39th BISFF, which opened on April 27 under the theme of ‘Expanding Cinema,’ screened 154 short films from 48 countries.

Director Mehrdad Hassani’s Adjustment won the Grand Prix at the International Competition this year. Adjustment is a poetic film that delicately captures a boy's growth process. At the Korean Competition, Director Lee Kyeongwon’s Nowhere Else won the Grand Prix. It received favorable reviews for its concise and impressive visualization of themes such as trauma, memory, and sorrow. 

The Audience Award, selected by the audience who visited the film festival, was awarded to Director Vincent Sparreboom’s At the Feet of My Mother at the International Competition and to Director Lee Juseung’s Mast at the Korean Competition, respectively. Mast is a short film Actor Lee Juseung directed and starred in, who showed impressive acting in Socialphobia, etc. 

As the offline film festival was held for the first time in three years in the aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic, there were many programs at BISFF this year where audiences and cineastes could meet in person, such as Guest Visit. Cha Minchul, the head of the operating committee, said, "Through the film festival this year, which was held at a time of going back to normal, I could feel the importance of watching movies together in theaters once again," expressing his feelings of watching films with domestic and foreign guests for the first time in 3 years.