Busan International Comedy Festival

The Busan International Comedy Festival (BICF) (Korean: 부산국제코미디페스티벌) is an annual comedy festival and cultural event held in Busan, South Korea. Since its establishment in 2013, the festival takes place for four days in late August to early September every year. The BICF includes comedic performances and acts from around the world, featuring sketch shows and stand-up acts. The festival has since grown from its 2013 debut; South Korean teams such as KBS's Gag Concert, SBS's Searching for Laughs and tvN's Comedy Big League are joined by a variety of teams from many different countries, such as the United Kingdom, South Africa, Japan and Italy. The festival is the largest international comedy festival in Asia and the first in South Korea.[1]

Busan International Comedy Festival
GenreComedy festival
Location(s)Busan, South Korea
Years active2013-present
FoundedAugust 29, 2013
Websitehttp://bicf.kr/

The festival's shows are structured by first holding the opening gala, where invited comedians walk on a "blue carpet", a spin-off from the red carpets at film festivals. Over the course of four days, comedy acts perform in indoor theaters as well as outdoor venues.

The Busan International Comedy Festival Organizing Committee currently includes the honorary chairman Jeon Yu-seong, the executive chairman Kim Jun-ho and the vice-directors Choi Dae-woong, Cho Kwang-sik, and the board member Kim Dae-hee.[2][3]

History

The festival was launched on August 29, 2013 and was held through September 1. It was only held at the Hall of Busan Film, where it attracted 21,198 spectators through the next four days. The show featured 17 teams from 7 countries.[4] As it was the first festival, head of the organizing committee and comedian Kim Jun ho stated, "Since this is the first festival, we're having some problems with the lodging and transportation and such. I'm sure it'll get better with future festivals."[5]

The second festival was held from August 29 to September 1, 2014, under the slogan, "Smile is Hope". The opening gala was held at Busan Cinema Center, and the shows were held at Movies of Fame, KBS Hall, Ye-no Theater at Kyungsung University, Shinsegae Culture Hall, and Busan Citizen's Park Dasom Yard. Twelve teams from seven countries performed at the festival, attracting 26,865 audience members.[6] On-gals and the Gag Concert team represented Korea, while Tape Face and Beky Hoop represented the UK and Canada. Moriyas Bangbangbigaro from Japan and 6D from Australia also performed.[3][7]

The 3rd Busan International Comedy Festival was held from August 28 to August 31, 2015 with 13 shows under the conjoined slogan, "Busan sea of Laughter, Laughter is Hope (부산바다 웃음바다, 웃음이 희망이다)". The opening gala was held at Busan Cinema Center. While the international acts were performed at Ye-no Art Hall at Kyungsung University, domestic acts were performed at Theatre HAPPENING and Sasang Indie Station. Certain international and domestic acts congregated at the Comedy Open Concert, which was held outdoors at Busan Citizen's Park Dasom Yard, Haeundae Beach, and Gamman Creative Community Space.[8] All in all, 28 teams from 12 countries performed at the festival. Comedians from different TV networks (KBS, MBC, SBS, tvN) participated in the event,[9] as well as different acts from the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, Germany, China, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Switzerland, and Africa.[10] Bunk Puppets of Canada, The Umbilical Brothers from Australia, The Street Circus from Canada and Montreux Comedy@Busan were part of the international comedy acts lineup.[11] The event attracted more than 35,000 spectators.[12]

Awards

The festival currently presents three awards: Ocean of Busan Prize, Ocean of Laughter Award, and the Rookie Award. Since 2013, the Ocean of Busan Prize is awarded to the best domestic South Korean comedic act while the Ocean of Laughter Award is given to the best international comedic performance. In 2015, the rookie award was established, which was awarded to the best newcomer to comedy. Each prize consists of a trophy and ₩5 million, except for the rookie award, which awards ₩3 million.[13][14]

Ocean of Busan Prize
Year Best Domestic Comedic act Ref.
1st

2013

Yadda's (옹알스) [4]
2nd

2014

Gag Dream Concert Dumb and Dumber Show [6]
3rd
2015		 Coskets (코스켓) [14][12]
4th

2016

 Lee Kyung-kyu Show
5th

2017

 Park Mi-seon Show

Ocean of Laughter Award
Year Best International Comedic Act Ref.
1st

2013

Dandy Man [4]
2nd

2014

The Umbilical Brothers [6]
3rd

2015

Bunk Puppets [14][12]
4th

2016

 Trygve Wakenshow
5th

2017

 Mario: Queen of the Circus

Rookie Award
Year Best Newcomer Comedic Act Ref.
3rd

2015

Come Here Show

(Kim Ki-ri, Ryu Geun-ji, Kim Sung-won, Seo Tae-hun)

 [14][12]
4th

2016

 Comedy Monsters
5th

2017

 We Need Communication

(Kim Dae-hee, Shin Bong-sun, Jang Dong-min)

Broadcast and sponsors

Korea New Network (KNN) is the official sponsor and broadcaster for the festival. The festival is also sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism as well as the Busan Metropolitan City. All sponsors can be found here: BICF Sponsors.

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See also

References
  1. "아시아 최대 코미디 축제, 부산국제코미디페스티벌 개최". bicf.co.kr. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  2. "Comedians announce the 1st Busan International Comedy Festival in Korea". BNTNews UK. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  3. "제2회 부산국제코미디페스티벌 8월 29일 개막". 한국일보. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  4. "History-제1회 부산국제코미디페스티벌(see 2013)". Busan International Comedy Festival. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  5. "2 Days & 1 Night : Season 3 - An Untimely Trip to Busan Part 1 (2014.09.28)". Youtube. September 28, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  6. "History-제2회 부산국제코미디페스티벌 (see 2014)". Busan International Comedy Festival. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  7. (KOCIS), Korean Culture and Information Service. "Busan comedy festival brings world together with humor :: Korea.net : The official website of the Republic of Korea". www.korea.net. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
  8. "부산국제코미디페스티벌 | 2015 PROGRAM". bicf.co.kr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
  9. "제3회 '부산국제코미디페스티벌(BICF)', 업그레이드 웃음 예고…8월 개최". bntnews.hankyung.com. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  10. "문화공감 - 웃음은 희망이다! | 문화포털". www.culture.go.kr. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  11. "개그맨 총출동 부산국제코미디페스티벌 이름값". 한국일보. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  12. "부산국제코미디페스티벌 | HISTORY (see 2015)". bicf.co.kr. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  13. "부산국제코미디페스티벌 | HISTORY". bicf.co.kr. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  14. "오늘 슈퍼갈라쇼 마지막 공연 후 벡스코 오디토리움에서 진행되었던... - Busan International Comedy Festival | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
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