Asia's biggest film festival is drifting.

The general assembly of the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday failed to breach differences between the organizing committee and the sponsoring city, casting a cloud over the prospects of the 20-year-old event.

Shortly before the meeting, the committee released a statement, signed by 106 people from the film industry, demanding the committee rules be amended so as to give the film festival "independence and autonomy" which it argues were damaged in September 2014 when a controversial documentary film was requested to be removed from the screening list.

At that time, Suh Byung-soo, mayor of Busan, which supports around half of the annual film festival's budget, asked the committee to scrap its plan to show "The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol," a demand rejected by the committee. The documentary criticizes the South Korean government for its botched rescue efforts in the immediate aftermath of a ferry sinking off the southwestern coast of Jindo, which killed more than 300 people, mostly high school students.

On Thursday, committee members also pushed for an extraordinary session to discuss the extension of festival executive director Lee Yong-kwan's term that was to expire on Friday. If Lee officially steps down, co-director Kang Soo-youn, a veteran actress, will take over as the sole director. Mayor Suh, who chaired the general assembly, however, said such issues should be left to the city's soon-to-be-formed task force. The committee, in turn, dismissed Suh's claim to say such sessions could take place if one-third of its 125 members agree according to the committee book.

Amid squabbling, Mayor Suh hurriedly announced the meeting closed and walked out, leaving disappointed and angry committee members behind.

Friction between the two sides runs deep.

Last December, the city filed a complaint with prosecutors against Lee and two committee officials for allegedly committing accounting fraud by failing to submit sufficient documentation for sponsorship procurement activities. The city said the move was in response to investigation results in September by the Board of Audit and Inspection. But the committee as well as the country's film industry suspect the investigation was only part of disciplinary measures for the screening of the documentary back in 2014.

Amid growing pressure to solve the ongoing feud, Mayor Suh offered to step down last week as the chairman of BIFF.

The committee said on Thursday "the new (committee) rules should be written in a way that BIFF can be completely out of any influence from the Busan city government."

Despite internal issues, the festival will invite around 300 movies from 70 countries for this year's event that will open on Oct. 6 for 10 days. It is expected that approximately 230,000 visitors, a number similar to last year, will flock to the southern port city of Busan for the festival. (Yonhap)