BIFF Square BIFF광장

BIFF Square is a free, always-open street in Busan’s Nampo district, best for a 20–30 minute snack stop. Its stalls sell ssiat hotteok (seed pancakes) from about 10:00 to 22:00. It is a couple of minutes from Jagalchi Station Exit 7 on Line 1 and next door to Gukje Market.

BIFF Square (BIFF광장) is the cinema street where the Busan International Film Festival began in 1996. Today it is less a film landmark than a busy pedestrian street of cinemas, shops and food carts in Busan’s old harbour district. Most visitors pass through between Gukje Market and Jagalchi Fish Market, eat a hotteok and look for the handprints in the pavement.

When to go: BIFF Square and its Nampo neighbours

BIFF Square works best as one stop on a Nampo walk, so plan the order around the neighbours’ hours.

Stop	Hours	Closed	Best for	Nearest exit
BIFF Square	Street always open; stalls about 10:00–22:00	Open all year	Seed hotteok, handprints	Jagalchi Exit 7 (closest)
Gukje Market	about 09:00–20:00	Sundays (official sources differ)	Market alleys, cheap snacks	Jagalchi Exit 7, ~7 min
Jagalchi Market	about 05:00–22:00	1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesday	Seafood meals	Jagalchi Exit 10, ~6 min
Bupyeong Kkangtong night market	19:30–24:00	Open every day	Evening street food	Jagalchi Exit 3, ~9 min

Hours from Visit Busan, the Jung-gu district office, the Jagalchi Market operator (Busan Facilities Corporation) and Korea Tourism Organization data, checked 20 October 2026. Individual stalls keep their own hours. BIFF Square’s stalls run later than Gukje Market, so the easy plan is Gukje in the afternoon, BIFF Square for a snack as the market winds down, then Jagalchi or the Kkangtong night market for dinner.

What you find on the street

The Jung-gu district office describes an about 400 m stretch from the former Buyeong Theater to the Chungmu-dong footbridge, laid out as two themed sections: “Star Street” and “Festival Street”.

• Street food. Visit Busan points to Nampo-dong’s famous seed hotteok: a fried pancake filled with brown sugar syrup and stuffed with sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The stalls also sell tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and fish-cake skewers in hot broth.
• Handprints. Bronze plaques set in the pavement carry the handprints of festival award winners and the names of films shown at the festival. The district office says new plaques are added year by year.
• Cinemas. Several multiplexes still line the street, the remains of a cinema district that had about 20 theatres by the 1960s.
• Shopping. The square runs straight into Gwangbok-ro, Nampo’s main fashion and shopping street, which leads on to the escalators up to Yongdusan Park.

During the film festival

The Busan International Film Festival is held in early to mid-October. Busan City gives the 2026 dates as 6–15 October, with 247 films from 59 countries. The opening ceremony and red carpet now take place at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae, not here.

Nampo keeps the audience side of the festival. Community BIFF, running since 2018, is held in Nampo-dong. For 2026 it scheduled daily outdoor screenings, stage greetings and hands-on events on BIFF Square. If your trip falls in festival week, check biff.kr for that year’s Nampo programme. Outside festival week the square is simply a food and shopping street.

Getting there

Take Busan Metro Line 1 to Jagalchi Station and leave by Exit 7. BIFF Square is the first street you reach, a couple of minutes on foot, and Gukje Market lies just beyond it. From Busan Station, where the KTX from Seoul arrives, Line 1 toward Sinpyeong reaches Jagalchi in about 10 minutes.

City buses stop at 자갈치역.비프광장 (Jagalchi Station / BIFF Square). A T-money card works on Busan’s metro and buses. Korea Tourism Organization data lists no parking at the square, and Nampo’s narrow streets are slow by car.

Tips for visiting

• Go late afternoon or early evening. Most stalls are open, the street is at its liveliest, and Jagalchi and the Kkangtong night market are next.
• Carry some cash. Food stalls are small street businesses; have notes and coins ready for a snack.
• Look down. The handprint plaques are underfoot, and in the evening crowd it is easy to walk over them without noticing.
• Don’t plan it as a destination. Ten minutes of walking covers the whole street; the value is in combining it with the markets.

A short history

After liberation in 1945, the first cinemas opened in Nampo-dong. By the 1960s about 20 theatres were clustered here, making it Busan’s movie district. The first Busan International Film Festival opened on 13 September 1996, and the area was renovated and named after it. It was the festival’s main stage, hosting the eve-of-festival event and handprinting ceremonies.

The festival was originally called the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), and the street was PIFF Square. On 24 February 2011 the festival adopted the spelling Busan, and the square became BIFF Square. Its opening ceremony later moved to the purpose-built Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae, but screenings in Nampo continue.

Around BIFF Square

The square sits in the old harbour district of Nampo and Jung-gu. Gukje Market is directly north, Jagalchi Market a short walk south on the waterfront, and Yongdusan Park with Busan Tower a short walk east via Gwangbok-ro. Gamcheon Culture Village is a short bus or taxi ride west. For seed hotteok and other regional dishes, see the Korean food guide; for how Nampo’s markets compare with Seoul’s, see markets in Korea.