To the question whether it’s still open for business now that Busan’s international film festival (BIFF) has wrapped – absolutely. In front of me, I hold two brochures. The first is an upcoming schedule of film screenings and live performances both theatrical and musical, the second lays out the complex itself. How many square meters? I don’t know but it’s big. Big with mesmerizing angles, crushing facades and possibly powered by dilithium crystals. You never know. Where descriptions are tough close up, from across the adjacent Suyeong River it resembles a starship in dry dock. Don’t tell Shatner.

Whatever the comparison, the Busan Cinema Center is strangely in harmony with its surroundings, the flowing river in front, the mountains behind and the circuit board of cityscape here at Haeundae district’s west end. The Center’s three primary pieces are Cinemountain, BIFF Hill and the cryptic Double Cone. Cinemountain is just that, a chunky but slick block that slopes upward on one side, glass on a waffle matrix. I imagine its peak would be 9F, the office space most of us would find ourselves kindly kicked out of. But underneath it are four state-of-the-art theatres capable of chameleoning as either presentation stages or 3D/film/digital projection rooms, with plenty of space to stretch out. I discovered this during a BIFF screening of the Ben Affleck directed “Argo,” in the three-tiered Haneulyeon performing arts theatre. What’s it worth to be able to extend your legs within the collective experience without making collective enemies? Busan Cinema Center’s answer – 6,000 won. Other films are half as much.

Facing the back entrance of the Shinsegae Department Store, BIFF Hill is the smaller building, as the name suggests. It’s also more of a resource for students and professionals than something to entertain film fans. Kind of. Even as I write and sip caffeine within the open-walled Café Raon, students from Dong Seo University prepare a slide presentation on Environmental Design. No one’s stopping you from watching of course. What’s encouraging is that the complex appears to embrace the greater community of art lovers. This doesn’t equate to public access to BIFF Hill’s editing and projection rooms outright, but the Center does seem genuine in its promise to “promote Busan as one of Asia’s most cine-friendly city [sic].” Classes in HD filmmaking and Avid editing systems are currently up for grabs (in Korean and for a fee I assume) while the Library (2F) houses a collection of cinema-related reading materials and an international film catalog. No backpacks permitted, though it’s a small price to pay for what essentially amounts to a free video store. “Ben-Hur,” “Gladiator” and a host of films without chariots are available for viewing on-site. 

Hats off to the designers, Austrian firm Coop Himmelb(l)au. Regardless of what side I’m on, I can’t pass by the Center without rubbernecking. But does the architecture out-perform its content even? A matter of opinion I suppose, which might change depending on what the content actually is. For this we turn once again to the information brochure. “You can enjoy various genres of movies here, including art house, family-oriented and popular movies, as well as sophisticated and high quality performances.” Clear as jjigae? Let’s examine the marquee then. While “Looper” plays at the CGV across the way, Busan Cinema Center is running 20-year-old Asian classics, a series of world music docs and an anniversary retrospective on Japanese filmmaker Suzuki Seijun. In November comes a themed series with films by Polanski, Louis Malle and Canadian actress Sarah Polley. It partly explains the absence of little ones. Nothing by Pixar, yet. 

The few children I do see are wandering around slack-jawed. Are they in awe or just looking for a trampoline room? It’s hard to tell what they think, or anyone really. This is not an experience many of us are used to, to be able to wander with such free rein. The few rooms and levels that are off limits are clearly signed but most of this puzzle is fair game, from the prestige ramp that snakes around the Double Cone, connecting it to Hill and Mountain, to the greater Dureraum Plaza. Even now, several visits later, I wander the grounds a bit unsure, waiting to be shouted off this epic set. What’s the Korean word for trespassing? Take the outdoor BIFF Theatre for example, lodged behind the Cone between Mountain and Hill. Good luck getting a chair during the film festival’s glossiest ceremonies, but now, outside of those ten days in October, just sit. Time it right and you’ll have a 4,000 seat venue to yourself, in front of Korea’s biggest movie screen.

My neck hurts. The aptly named Big Roof and Small Roof (not so small really) are two mammoth slabs that form a canopy over most of the complex. The larger of the two holds the Guinness record as the world’s longest cantilevered roof, stretching 85 meters from its single-pillared support, the Double Cone. After dark the canopy goes Crayola. Forty-thousand LEDs paint the surface in colored streaks, graphics and tie-dyed patterns, embarrassing any rainbow. As a communication tool, it’s impressive. Impressive all around in fact. Don’t just stand there then. Take a picture. Wide angle.