The Western Bloc is an informal, collective term for countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. While the NATO member states, in Western Europe and Northern America, were pivotal to the bloc, it included many other countries, in the broader Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa with histories of anti-Soviet, anti-communist and, in some cases anti-socialist, ideologies and policies. As such, the bloc was opposed to the political systems and foreign policies of communist countries, which were centered on the Soviet Union, other members of the Warsaw Pact, and usually the People's Republic of China. The name "Western Bloc" emerged in response to and as the antithesis of its communist counterpart, the Eastern Bloc. Throughout the Cold War, the governments and the Western media were more inclined to refer to themselves as the "Free World" or the "First World", whereas the Eastern Bloc was often referred to as the "Communist World" or less commonly the "Second World".
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held from 13 to 21 September 1996, was also the first international film festival in Korea.
The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries. It was created as the result of a conference on Asian cinema organized by Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, in New Delhi in 1990 at the instance and with the support of UNESCO, Paris.
SMC Corporation is a Japanese TOPIX Large 70 company founded in 1959 as Sintered Metal Corporation, which specializes in pneumatic control engineering to support industrial automation. SMC develops a broad range of control systems and equipment, such as directional control valves, actuators, and air line equipment, to support diverse applications. SMC's head office is located in Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan. The company has a global engineering network, with technical facilities in the United States, Europe and China, as well as Japan. Key production facilities are located in China and Singapore, and local production facilities are in United States, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, India, Korea and Australia.
The 18th Busan International Film Festival was held from October 3 to October 12, 2013 and was hosted by Aaron Kwok and Kang Soo-yeon.
The 19th Busan International Film Festival was held in South Korea from October 2 to October 11, 2014, and was hosted by Ken Watanabe and Moon So-ri. A total of 312 films from 79 countries were screened with total attendance of 226,473. Hong Kong director Ann Hui receives the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award. The closing film was Gangster Payday.
The 17th Busan International Film Festival was held from October 4 to October 13, 2012 at the Busan Cinema Center and was hosted by Ahn Sung-ki and Chinese actress Tang Wei, who is the first foreign celebrity to host the event.
The 16th Busan International Film Festival was held from October 6 to October 14, 2011 at the Busan Cinema Center and was hosted by actresses Uhm Ji-won and Ye Ji-won, making it the first year to be hosted by two women.
The 20th Busan International Film Festival was held from October 1 to October 10, 2015 at South Korea's Busan Cinema Center and was hosted by Song Kang-ho and Marina Golbahari.
The 22nd Busan International Film Festival was held from October 12 to October 21, 2017 at the Busan Cinema Center and hosted by Jang Dong-gun and Im Yoon-ah. A total of 300 films from 75 countries were screened at the festival, including 100 world premieres and 29 international premieres.
The 35th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival took place from 5 to 15 July 2000. The Crystal Globe was won by Me You Them, a Brazilian drama film directed by Andrucha Waddington. The second prize, the Special Jury Prize was won ex aequo by The Big Animal, a Polish comedy-drama film directed by Jerzy Stuhr, and by Peppermint Candy, a South Korean drama film directed by Lee Chang-dong. Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer and film producer Abbas Kiarostami was the president of the jury.
The 23rd Busan International Film Festival was held from 3 October to 13 October 2018 at the Busan Cinema Center. A total of 324 films from 79 countries were screened at the festival, including 115 world premieres and 25 international premieres.
The 24th Busan International Film Festival was held from October 3 to October 12, 2019 at the Busan Cinema Center in Busan, South Korea. A total of 299 films from 85 countries were screened at the festival, including 118 world premieres and 27 international premieres.
The 27th Busan International Film Festival was held from October 5 at the Busan Cinema Center in Busan, South Korea till October 14. This year, the festival restarted events and program sections which were not conducted due to COVID-19 for last 2 years. The festival opened with Iranian film Scent of the Wind by director Seyed Hadi Mohaghegh, Jeon Yeo-been with Ryu Jun-yeol were master of ceremonies for the opening ceremony.
The 13th Pusan International Film Festival took place on October 2 to 10, 2008 in Busan, South Korea. A total of 315 films from 60 countries were screened at the festival.
