The top prize for feature film at the Busan International Film Festival's closing ceremony went to Midday Meal, directed by Majid Majidi. That result automatically qualifies the film for submission to the Oscars' Best International Feature category.

Set in a remote, arid village, the film follows a schoolteacher — played by Mohammad Rahimi — whose institution faces an uncertain future after the benefactor financing it dies. Majidi, whose international profile includes titles such as Children of Heaven, attended the Busan festival for the first time to present the new work.

The Busan Award Special Jury Prize went to Ibuku, directed by Eddie Cahyono. In Christine Hakim's portrayal, a widowed woman's only daughter is handed over to settle gambling debts left behind by her late husband.

The best director honour at the festival went to Lee Yun Chan of Taiwan, also known as Robin Lee. Her film To Be Ordinary centres on a family navigating the gradual, uneven process of rebuilding relationships following a sudden accident that has left lasting fractures between them. Two of Lee's earlier works screened at Busan in previous editions — a short film titled The Magical Washing Machine appeared in the Wide Angle strand, and her debut feature The Shoe Fairy competed in the New Currents section in 2005.

Two acting honours were presented in the lead performer category. Zhou Xun of China received recognition for The First Taste of Loneliness, directed by Gu You, while Japan's Kashun Himeno was honoured for Satoko Always, directed by Shuichi Okita. A sound award for artistic contribution also went to Li Danfeng for The First Taste of Loneliness.

Shashank Walia's Punjabi-language production Birds in the Dark, which screened in the Vision – Asia section, received the New Currents Award. The film also collected the Songwon Vision Audience Award for an Asian film at BIFF's Vision Awards. A Special Mention under the New Currents Award category went to Beach Fictions, presented by Korean director Lim Hayeon.

Four prizes in the Vision section went to Mongolia's Zogsool, directed by Sakhya Byamba — among them the Vision of Jiseok Award — while Korean director Jeong Jihye's Full Moon collected three separate honours in the same category.

Combined attendance across the festival's three strands — the main programme, Community BIFF, and BIFF Everywhere — surpassed 200,000 for the current edition, a figure the organisation described as the largest film audience the event had recorded since 2015. Approximately 77,000 additional visitors took part in scheduled programmes and featured events. The festival cited a rescheduled launch date and a broader slate of screenings as factors behind the attendance increase.

Alfonso Cuarón attended the festival alongside Majidi, marking his first recorded trip to Korea in an official capacity. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Fan Bingbing, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Lee Chang-dong, Na Hong-jin, Lav Diaz, and Rintaro each participated in a programme of audience-facing events — Master Classes, Cine Classes, and Special Talks — where direct exchanges with festivalgoers formed the centrepiece of their appearances.

At the festival's opening ceremony, the Asian Filmmaker of the Year honour went to Michelle Yeoh, with the Camellia Award conferred separately upon Ann Hui.

The Asian Contents and Film Market, held over four days from 10 to 13 October, brought together 339 exhibiting companies and just over 30,000 attendees from 32 nations. Three projects — A Chronicle of Minor Things, Goldfish, and Casparina — received honours at the Asian Project Market's closing day.

A memorandum of understanding between Solaire Partners, a content investment firm based in South Korea, and Questry Co, a Japanese entertainment finance company, has established the basis for a bilateral content fund targeting 75 million US dollars — equivalent to KRW100 billion — drawing on resources from both countries.