The 2025 Korea International Ocean Film Festival will be from June 19 to 22 at the Busan Cinema Center (Film Archive) in Haeundae, under the theme “Where the Sea Touches Us.”
The festival will feature 34 marine-themed films from 10 countries, including documentaries, shorts, and feature films exploring the ocean’s relationship with humanity, the environment, and culture.
The opening film is Sophia’s Shark Story, a Chilean documentary by Ignacio Walker and Denis Arqueros about a girl’s journey as a marine scientist.
The closing film on June 22 is Ocean Tiger, directed by Jeong Yun-cheol, which reflects on memory, death, and the sea, based on a novel by the late author Kim Tak-hwan.
The festival includes post-screening audience talks (GVs), lectures with marine experts, themed talk shows, a photo zone, and interactive booths. Notably, BTOB member Lim Hyun-sik will appear in a GV for The Young Man and the Deep Sea, a film documenting his underwater music video shoot in Palau. Music critic Kim Tae-hoon will return with an Ocean Music Talk, including commentary on director Ryu Seung-wan’s Smuggling.
Tickets are 5,000 won per screening and can be reserved online at www.dureraum.org or on-site during the festival. Additional details are available at kioff.kr and on Instagram (@kioff.official).
