The annual Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), fondly referred to by many attendees as the International Drinking Festival, is arguably the most prestigious and well-attended film festival focusing on Asian cinema.

The festival's meteoric rise to international prominence mirrors the Korean cinematic boom of recent years, beginning with movies such as My Sassy Girl, Silmido, and Shiri and culminating last year with 200 Pound Beauty, The King and the Clown, and The Host.

However, the last twelve months of Korean cinema have proven to be financially and creatively disastrous for the Korean film industry. As a result, this year much of PIFF’s shine was wiped away by the financial drowning of recent Korean films as well as by the heavy rain that soaked the city of Busan, Korea, site of the festival.

Like most film festivals, PIFF has two components: the films and the business. Most people come here for the Asian Film Market, the Pusan Promotion Plan, or various other selling and financing opportunities. They rarely have time to see any of the films, including ones they intend to buy.

The international film industry executives, most from other Asian countries, forego the movies for several reasons. First, PIFF headquarters is right on the beach, conveniently located between the three hotels where all the meetings take place. But the movie theaters screening the films are kilometers away. Second, although PIFF is the most prestigious film festival in Asia, it's still regarded as less prestigious than Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, or Venice. In a way, having a movie in PIFF is like getting into a good school after getting rejected by Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

On the other hand, PIFF provides great networking opportunities. Anytime from noon onward you can generally find a reception going in one of the hotel ballrooms, offering sushi and wine and hosted by a national film council, production company, or studio. Even without a pass or the right credentials, you can usually find someone willing to help you get in. Once inside, you have a chance to exchange business cards with industry players and possibly score an invite to a dinner reception where you can continue to make contacts over more wine and sushi.

After dinner, you may find a production company hosting a cocktail hour where you can toast their latest movie or trailer, hang out with up-and-coming actors, and pick up interesting freebies.

This year the Taewon Production Company was giving out hand-held fans that contained computerized chips and played messages as the fan whirled, hard to describe but very cool. They were promoting a period epic starring Andy Lau and Maggie Q. It seems to be the same story that John Woo is doing with Tony Leung, so apparently they will be doing a Deep Impact Armageddon about an ancient Chinese battle.

When the parties wind down around 11 PM, everyone either flocks to noraebangs (private karaoke rooms), seafood restaurants along the beach, or nightclubs. If you're too shy to sing or dance, head for the beach, where you can socialize with producers, buyers, and film executives over soju, beer, and live octopus until about 4 AM when they realize they have to get up at 9 AM for a meeting. Repeat for eight days and you have the amazing experience known as the Pusan International Film Festival.

Incidentally, one of the two writers of this article, Young Il Kim, makes a very brief cameo in a movie that screened at PIFF this year: West 32nd, produced by CJ Entertainment and directed by Michael Kang. Apparently, Young's half-second appearance in a club scene so overwhelmed critics and buyers that they encouraged CJ to screen the movie for a wider audience in Korea, which will be happening in a few weeks. Also, Germany must have loved his Hitchcock-esque appearance in the movie, since a company has bought it for German distribution.