The Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), which South Korea praises as its largest international film event, opened Thursday, inviting top-rank moviemakers and celebrities around the world.

Welcoming the press guests with its opening film, South Korean-produced Good Morning, President, the festival began its nine-day run.

Later in the evening, a grand opening ceremony was held at an open theater here in the peninsula's southern port city, attended by world-famous celebrities, including Josh Hartnett, and Han-ryu, or the Korean wave, stars like Jang Dong-gun and Lee Byung-hun.

Famous Chinese celebrities, such as Fruit Chen and Terri Kwan, also appeared in the ceremony's photo zone, receiving a warm welcome from thousands of South Korean movie lovers.

Jia Zhangke, Cui Jian, and Li Bingbing are also scheduled to visit Busan during the festival, with the Li-starred movie to be presented as the closing film.

This year's PIFF, marking its 14th event, is screening a total of 355 films from 70 countries, breaking its last record it set last year, 315 movies from 60 nations.

Among the participant films, 98 chose to world-premier, or showcase for the first time in the world, at the PIFF, which is also a record-high number.

For screening, the PIFF organization has prepared a total of 269,332 seats at 36 screens, or 6 major theaters.

The festival runs multiple awards, including the New Current Award, for which Oscar-nominee Jean-Jacques Beineix serves as the jury head, and the Sonje Award for short films, and the newly-launched Flash Forward Award targeted for emerging directors from non-Asian regions.

In addition to the prize-competing events, the fest offers diverse programs, such as conferences, forums, academies, concerts, and photo exhibitions.

In particular, on sidelines of the PIFF, the Asian Film Market 2009 is held from October 11 to 14, in which 72 companies participated as sales office exhibitors and potential buyers from 17 countries registered.

The Pusan Promotion Plan, which the PIFF organization claims as the largest project market in Asia, is part of the film market, providing a pre-market venue where promising filmmakers and producers meet with potential co-producers and financiers.

The PIFF also prepares for a 900 million-won, or around $720,000, funding program, or the so-called Asian Cinema Fund.

"The fund aims at helping activate more independent film productions and to provide a stable production environment, while playing a role as a cornerstone of a pan-Asian network for Asian filmmakers," the organization said.

Named after the city name Busan in the old Romanization system, the PIFF was launched in 1996 and has seen expansion in both size and participant number by breaking pre-set records every year.

The PIFF has now grown into one of most influential film fests in Asia, focused on discovering new films and first-time directors from across the region, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency evaluated.

Amid the fear of the fast-spreading A/H1N1 virus, the fest is expected to be visited by more than 200,000 people.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2009)