Asia’s largest film festival has returned to Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan. From October 4 to 13, the 17th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF 2012)
will welcome directors, actors, film critics, and film enthusiasts from
all over the world to discover some of the newest and most original
voices in film.
For the first time in festival history, two non-Korean films will be opening and closing the ten-day event. Opening film
Cold War¸
a psychological crime thriller by Hong Kong directors Longman Leung and
Sunny Luk, will have its world premiere on October 4, and satire film
Television,
by Bangladesh’s pioneering independent filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar
Farooki, will close the festivities on October 13. Chinese actress Tang
Wei will join Korea’s veteran actor Ahn Seonggi to moderate on opening
night.
Hong Kong thriller Cold War (left) and Bengali film Television
(right) will be featured as the opening and closing films,
respectively, at the 17th Busan International Film Festival. The
festival begins on October 4 (photo courtesy of the Busan International
Film Festival). A total of 304 films from 75 countries
will be screened at this year’s festival, with 93 among these to be
world premieres. Films will be played on 37 screens across seven
theatres throughout Busan, including Busan Cinema Center, CGV Centum
City, Lotte Cinema Centum City, and Megabox Haeundae.
This
year’s film selection will showcase diverse themes, with a particularly
notable selection of films from countries such as Japan, India, the
Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia, spotlighting the artistic visions
of Asia’s premier filmmakers as well as the social and cultural issues
that inspire them.
Among the Korean films that will be featured at the 17th Busan International Film Festival are Dangerous Liaisons (left), starring Korean actor Jang Dong-gun and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, and Werewolf Boy (right), starring Park Bo-young (pictured) and Song Joong-ki (photo courtesy of the Busan International Film Festival). A sneak peek at this year’s films According
to BIFF 2012 programmer Jeon Chan-il, this year’s selection of Korean
independent films can be largely characterized as exploring the themes
of responsibility and revenge as well as sexual desire and awakening. In
the New Currents program, two such films are
Fatal, a haunting
coming-of-age story by emerging filmmaker Lee Donku that depicts one
28-year-old’s agonizing quest for redemption, and
Your Time Is Up, the directorial debut of Koreab Academy of Film Arts graduate Kim Sung-hyun, who portrays in dramatic strokes how minor conflicts can birth tragic results.
Programmer
Kim Seok-gi praised the films that will be screened in a special
program entitled “Afghanistan National Film Archive: The Rise from the
Ashes” as particularly meaningful addition’s to this year’s overall
program. For ordinary moviegoers, this will be a rare opportunity to
watch films produced under the film ban of the Taliban regime during the
1960s to 1980s. Of these, late director Mohammad Nazir’s 1974 film
Rabia Balkhi,
which brings to life the Afghan legend of the titular royal princess
and the slave warrior with whom she falls in love, has received acclaim
for not only its story and camerawork but also for the creative
dedication and daring that carried the work to completion.
Highlights
at this year's Busan International Film Festival include screenings of
films produced in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, including the
1974 film Rabia Balkhi (left), as well as a screening of the North Korean film Comrade Kim Goes Flying (photo courtesy of the Busan International Film Festival). Another notable first at this year’s festival will be the screening of
Comrade Kim Goes Flying,
a film by North Korean director Kim Gwang-hun. Co-directed by Britain’s
Nicholas Bonner and Belgium’s Anja Daelemans, the film tells the story
of a female miner named Kim Young-mi who dreams of flying as an acrobat
with the Pyongyang Circus Troupe, and the handsome aerialist Jang Pil
who grows to respect her. Described by BIFF 2012 programmer Rhee
Soue-won as a heartwarming and humorous story, the film received
official approval for screening from the Ministry of Unification.
Ministry spokesperson Kim Hyeong-seok cited “measures to increase
flexibility of inter-Korean cultural exchange” as having provided
grounds for the approval.
Films that have already enjoyed
widespread recognition among international critics will also be featured
in Busan, including 2012 Cannes Palme D’or winner
Amour (Love) by Austrian director Michael Haneke and Berlin International Film Festival’s Golden Bear winner
Caesar Must Die by Italian duo Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.
Additional
highlights at this year’s festival include a special exhibition on
Georgian-born Armenian film director and artist Sergey Parajanov as well
as screenings of some of the oldest existing Korean Cinema classics,
including the 1964 box-office hit
Red Scarf, featuring early film icon Shin Young-kyun as well as Korea’s first aerial cinematography, and
Spring, Spring, another lauded work starring Shin that offers humorous commentary on the bygone days of Korea’s caste society.
Preparations
are underway in Korea's southeastern port city of Busan, where the 17th
Busan International Film Festival will open on October 4 for an
exciting ten days (photo: Yonhap News). Off screen,
festival organizers will be holding a special event entitled “Book to
Film” as part of the Asia Film Market program, during which publishers
interested in selling film rights to their books will have the
opportunity to pitch top works directly to film producers and investors.
Also, in conjunction with this year’s Asian Film Academy, an annual
educational program that invites young film professionals to take master
classes with established filmmakers, BIFF will launch the first ever
Asian Actors Academy to provide acting lessons and training for aspiring
actors across Asia.
More information on BIFF, including a program schedule and film synopses, can be found at the official website:
http://www.biff.kr/structure/eng/default.asp.
By Kwon Jungyun
Korea.net Staff Writer