Park Kwang-su, chair of the Busan International Film Festival, speaks during a press conference on the final day of the film festival at the Busan Cinema Center, Friday. Yonhap

The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will launch a competition section dedicated to selecting the best Asian film next year, on its 30th anniversary, to reinforce its status as Asia's leading film festival.

"We have reached an internal agreement to create a competitive section for selecting Asia's best film at next year's 30th festival. This decision comes after extensive discussions that have taken place while preparing for this year's 29th event," Park Kwang-su, chair of BIFF, said during a press conference concluding the 10-day film festival on Friday.

"Detailed information will be announced at next year's general meeting after internal discussion."

Since its inception, BIFF has highlighted the works of promising Asian filmmakers with its New Currents competition section.

Besides the section, BIFF has been a non-competitive festival that showcases Asian films. The competitive category to crown the best film in Asia next year marks a pivotal change and a bold step toward rejuvenating the film festival.

This year's BIFF, held from Oct. 2 to Oct. 11, attracted more viewers than last year, appealing to both domestic and global audiences.

The organizing committee said this year's BIFF attracted 145,238 viewers, an increase of about 3,000 from last year. Notably, the seat occupancy rate reached a record high of 84 percent for films screened during the festival.

"This year's event reminded us of the festival's fundamental yet crucial role in screening good films in good venues for BIFF ambassadors and movie lovers who consistently attend the festival," Park Do-sin, co-deputy director of BIFF, said. "303 talk events and 46 special events also facilitated meetings between filmmakers and audiences."

BIFF also played a significant role in expanding connections between Asian filmmakers and international buyers.

The Asia Contents & Film Market (ACFM), held alongside the film festival, saw 2,644 industry participants from 52 countries and 26,435 visitors, up 37 percent from last year's event. The number of conferences more than doubled, and the event also featured an artificial intelligence session that received good responses for presenting innovative ideas.

Kim Young-deok, director of the ACFM, said efforts will be made next year to attract more participants and increase content sales.

"To help filmmakers succeed in selling their content, we need to attract more people. By strengthening conferences, we expect an increase in sales next year. We plan to maintain this approach next year," Kim said.

BIFF is scheduled to run from Sept. 17 to 26 next year. While the festival has traditionally been held in October, the dates have been adjusted due to the Chuseok holiday and the National Sports Festival to be held in Busan from Oct. 17 next year, according to the organizing committee.