BIFF 2026 Tickets in English: After the Sept 21 Sale, KE/KN Codes

Image generated with ChatGPT for illustration purposes.

Last checked: September 24, 2026 (KST) · Sources: BIFF booking page and FAQ, the schedule-change notice (last updated Sept 22), the 2026 Ticket Catalogue and the non-resident booking page on the official ticketing site · What changed recently: general booking opened Sept 21; *Gravity* added on Oct 7; *Dora* (Oct 12) re-coded from KK to KE + KK; one Actors' House slot moved 30 minutes earlier.

The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) runs from Tuesday, October 6 to Thursday, October 15, 2026, with 315 films on 31 screens in 8 theaters. Tickets for general screenings go on sale on Monday, September 21 at 14:00 Korea time (KST), which is 01:00 in New York and 06:00 in London on the same day.

Most English-language guides stop at dates and prices. The detail that decides whether a foreign visitor actually enjoys a screening is a two-letter code printed next to each showing. One of those codes means the film has no English subtitles at all. This guide is built from BIFF's English booking page, its theater regulations, its opening and closing ceremony page, individual film pages and the 104-page Ticket Catalogue PDF, all retrieved from biff.kr on September 18, 2026 (KST). Checking the original catalogue against the film pages is how the example below was found.

Update, September 24: after general booking opened

General screenings went on sale on September 21 at 14:00 KST, after a scheduled maintenance window from 00:00 to 09:00 that morning (BIFF notice of September 19). BIFF has not published a sell-out list for screenings or ceremonies; availability shows per screening code once you are in the queue.

Booking from abroad. The official ticketing site, biff.maketicket.co.kr, has a separate "Non Resident Ticket Booking (ENG)" button. That path asks for email verification on first registration, while the Korean path asks for a Korean phone number. Whether a card issued outside Korea clears at checkout is still not stated anywhere — see the last section.

Changes since the catalogue was printed. I read through the English schedule-change notice line by line; the Korean version's title shows it was last revised on September 22. The items that matter to an English-speaking audience:

Code	Date	What changed
743	Oct 7, 20:20	*Gravity* added as an extra screening
815	Oct 8, 12:30	Master Class with Alfonso Cuarón added
494	Oct 12	*Dora* re-coded from KK to KE + KK — now English-friendly
806	Oct 10	Actors' House: SHIN Mina moved to 16:30–17:30 (was 17:00–18:00)
065	Oct 7	Guest visit added for *Campeón Gabacho*

No screenings were cancelled. Several runtimes changed by more than five minutes — check the notice if you booked two showings back to back.

Cancelled seats and the Ticket Box. The two official pages disagree. The booking page says seats "that are not sold out online or have been cancelled can be booked at the BIFF Ticket Box during the festival", and online cancellation is allowed up to 60 minutes before a screening. The English FAQ says "If tickets are sold out on the BIFF official website, tickets are NOT available at BIFF Ticket Box." In practice: a screening sold out online is not sold at the box, but cancelled seats can reappear, so check the website again in the last hours before a showing.

Ticket Box hours from the booking page, cross-checked with page 19 of the catalogue:

Ticket Box	Dates	Hours
Busan Cinema Center, outdoor	Oct 6 – Oct 15	08:30 – 20:30
Cine Mountain, 6F	Oct 7 – Oct 15	08:30 until 15 minutes after the last screening starts
CGV Centum City 7F · LOTTE CINEMA Centum City 8F · Korean Film Council 2F · Busan Community Media Center 1F	Oct 7 – Oct 14	from 30 minutes before the first screening
MEGABOX Busan Theater, 4F	Oct 8 – Oct 11	09:30 – 20:00
Sohyang Theatre Woori Bank Hall	Oct 8 – Oct 14	not stated

Boxes take credit cards, debit cards and cash.

Booking dates and prices

Item	Official information
Festival dates	Oct 6 (Tue) to Oct 15 (Thu), 2026
Round 1, opened Sept 17, 14:00 KST	Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Open Cinema, Midnight Passion, Actors' House, Community BIFF screenings
Round 2, opens Sept 21, 14:00 KST	General Screenings, Master Class, Cine Class
Online sales window	Sept 17 to Oct 15, 24 hours, on biff.kr
Online payment	Credit card or debit card
Opening or Closing Ceremony	30,000 won
General Screening, Cine Class	10,000 won
Actors' House, Master Class	15,000 won
Midnight Passion	20,000 won
Discount	3,000 won off for people aged 65+ (born 1961 or earlier), people with disabilities and veterans, with ID checked at a BIFF Ticket Box

According to the festival overview, the 315 films split into 246 official selections from 59 countries and 69 Community BIFF films. The official selections include 95 world premieres.

How the booking system works

The booking page lists seven steps. The ones that trip people up:

1. Register again. An account from last year does not carry over. Registration needs email verification, and the password is a 6-digit number.
2. One session only. Multiple logins with the same account, and booking across multiple devices, browsers or tabs, are not permitted. BIFF recommends Chrome and warns that tablets may not work properly.
3. Expect a queue. Under heavy traffic you get a queue number and are let in automatically in order.
4. Two tickets per screening code. Each showing has a three-digit screening code. You can book up to 2 seats per code, and moving to a different code sends you back into the queue.

Planning your codes before 14:00 on September 21 saves time, because every switch between showings costs a fresh place in line.

The subtitle codes: KE, KN, KK and "unmarked"

The legend on page 8 of the 2026 Ticket Catalogue (PDF) defines the codes that sit next to each showing. In BIFF's own wording:

Code	BIFF's definition	Can you follow it with English only?
KE	Korean Subtitles + English Subtitles or Dialogue	Yes
(unmarked)	English Subtitles + Korean Dialogue	Yes
NO	No Dialogue	Yes
KN	Korean Subtitles + Non-English Dialogue without English Subtitles	No
KK	Korean Subtitles + Korean Dialogue (the Korean text describes audio description and captioning for visually and hearing impaired audiences)	No

Two things are easy to get backwards. First, a showing with no code is fine for English speakers: these are mostly Korean films screened with English subtitles. Second, KN is the trap. It marks a non-English film that carries Korean subtitles only.

Counting the timetable in the catalogue gives a sense of scale. Of the 743 screening codes that carry an age rating, 549 are KE, 185 are unmarked, 6 are KK and 3 are KN. Four more barrier-free showings are marked both KE and KK. So the risk is small in number, but it sits on a film people will want to see.

All 3 KN showings belong to Pedro Almodóvar's *Bitter Christmas* (Spain, 2026, 112 minutes). Checking the text of its official film page confirms it: "This film is in Spanish with Korean subtitles only. English subtitles are not available."

Code	Date	Time	Theater
114	Oct 8 (Thu)	09:00	CGV Centum City 6
211	Oct 9 (Fri)	09:00	CGV Centum City 6
451	Oct 11 (Sun)	16:40	LOTTE CINEMA Centum City 9

The catalogue was printed on September 10, and BIFF says later schedule changes appear only on its website. Before paying, open the film's page and look for the code in its schedule box.

Cancellations and refunds

Mobile tickets are cancelled on biff.kr under My page; printed tickets must go back to a BIFF Ticket Box. Cancellation closes 60 minutes before the screening.

When you cancel	Fee (Opening/Closing Ceremony in brackets)
6 or more days before	Free
5 to 3 days before	1,000 won (3,000 won), free if cancelled on the day of purchase
2 days to 60 minutes before	3,000 won (9,000 won), no same-day exemption

If BIFF itself changes or cancels a screening, the refund is full with no fee. Lost or damaged tickets are not reissued or refunded.

On the day: entry rules

The theater regulations are strict in a few places that differ from ordinary cinemas:

• Entry closes 15 minutes after the screening starts, and late arrivals are not guaranteed their assigned seat.
• Doors open 15 minutes before the start.
• Screenshots of mobile tickets and confirmation emails or texts are not accepted. Show the live mobile ticket or a paper ticket.
• Nobody under 19 may enter a 19-rated screening, even with a guardian; people who turn 19 during 2026 are exempt. Children under 4 are not admitted at all.
• Photography and video are forbidden, including during trailers and end credits, except when staff allow photos at guest visits.

Paper tickets and discount checks are handled at BIFF Ticket Boxes. The outdoor box at Busan Cinema Center runs Oct 6 to 15 from 08:30 to 20:30 and takes cash as well as cards. Boxes at Cine Mountain (6F), CGV Centum City (7F) and LOTTE CINEMA Centum City (8F) open during the festival with hours tied to each venue's screenings.

Opening and closing nights

The catalogue lists both ceremonies at the Busan Cinema Center Roof Theater, at 18:00 on October 6 and October 15. The ceremony page lists audience entry from 17:00, the red carpet from 18:00, the main event from 19:00 and the film from 20:20 to about 21:40. BIFF will offer AI-based multilingual interpretation in text and voice for attendees, so bring a phone and earphones.

Roads around the Busan Cinema Center close from 17:30 to 19:30 on both nights, and Centum seo-ro closes from 17:00 to 23:00. There is no designated parking, and BIFF asks audiences to use public transport.

Buying from someone else

The booking page says BIFF bears no responsibility for problems arising from illegal transactions, naming tickets resold above face value and transfer fraud, and that tickets must be bought only through official channels. Korea tightened its anti-scalping rules on August 28, 2026, but the Ministry of Culture's Q&A on the amended law states that movie tickets fall outside it, since the law covers performances and sports. For BIFF, the festival's own terms are what apply, and if a resold ticket turns out to be invalid, BIFF has already said the problem is not its responsibility.

If you are flying in for the festival, entry requirements are the other half of the planning. The K-ETA temporary exemption post covers the exemption period for visa-free travelers (January 1 to December 31, 2026, KST) and why applying anyway lets you skip the arrival card.

What this guide could not confirm

• Foreign-issued cards. The booking page says online payment is by credit or debit card. It does not say whether cards issued outside Korea are accepted. The BIFF Call Center (1666-9177, weekdays 10:00 to 17:00, break 12:00 to 13:30) or cs@biff.kr can answer that.
• Seat availability after September 21. BIFF has published no sell-out list as of September 24; availability shows only per screening code inside the booking queue.
• Changes after September 10. The subtitle counts above come from the printed catalogue. The schedule-change notice (table above) re-coded one film to KE + KK; any later change will appear there and on the film page.
• Which rule the Ticket Box follows when the booking page and the FAQ disagree about sold-out screenings. The Call Center can confirm before you queue.
• The 28 timed entries without an age rating (talks, special events and Community BIFF items) were left out of the subtitle count.