The rise of South Korean diasporic cinema has allowed the artists involved to feel less alone, one filmmaker told Busan International Film Festival attendees on Friday.

Six films from the diaspora are unspooling as part of a special sidebar this year in the South Korean port city, including Isaac Chung's Oscar-winner "Minari" and Celine Song's Sundance favorite "Past Lives".

Since "Parasite" became the first non-English-language film to win a Best Picture Oscar, films made by the Korean diaspora have experienced a remarkable surge, with filmmakers delving into culture-spanning narratives that encompass their varied experiences.

"(The) main thing it's done, at least for myself, is to know that as I tell my own stories, people are finding common ground to relate with one another," Justin Chon, who directed 2021 adoption drama "Blue Bayou", told reporters.

He has since directed four episodes of the successful Apple TV+ series "Pachinko", the story of an ethnic Korean family living in Japan, based on the novel by Min Jin Lee.

When "other immigrants and minorities in the United States are telling their stories, the only thing it does is signal to me that I really wasn't alone this entire time", he said.

"Minari" director Chung said as a second-generation Korean-American, he had always felt "a loss of a place that I don't fully understand that is far away from me".

Korean-American actors Steven Yeun and John Cho were unable to comment on their American projects due to the ongoing Screen Actors Guild strike, but both freely discussed why they believed the work stoppage was important.

"I think the strike is a very righteous act of making sure that we ensure and protect artists and those who are living an actor's life and a writer's life," Yeun said.

"And there are many people who don't have safeguards…. I sit here with so much privilege to be here and to be able to talk about it."

Cho, who starred in the 2018 thriller "Searching" which is screening at this year's BIFF, said artificial intelligence — a key concern for striking actors — has "put people out of work" in the entertainment industry.