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| Scenes from "Mountain Cry" / Courtesy of BIFF |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Organizers at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) announced its lineup for this year's 20th non-competitive festival held in the port city of Busan Oct. 1-10.
With young Indian director Mozez Singh's "Zubaan" as the opening film, Korea's most recognized film festival will screen 304 films from 75 countries including 94 world premieres over 10 days, finishing with Chinese director Larry Yang's "Mountain Cry."
For being unconventional, choosing the young Indian director's debut film as the festival opener, executive programmer Kim Ji-seok said they put high value on the film's producer Guneet Monga, known for producing "The Lunchbox" (2013), which bagged the Critics Viewers Choice Award at the 66th Cannes Film Festival.
"To be honest, it was not easy for us to choose the young Indian director's film as an opener. But we counted on the film's producer," Kim told reporters during the press conference at the Koreana Hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. "There are times that we need to look back on ourselves while pursuing success in life and I think this film will be perfect for the moment. I hope it will be encouraging for those who think they are feeling lost in life."
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| Scenes from "Zubaan." / Courtesy of BIFF |
Based on Ge Shui-ping's novel of the same title, "Mountain Cry" revolves around a young villager Han Chong, who accidentally kills a man. Instead of reporting the case to the police, the elders of the village force him to care for the mute wife of the dead man.
Veteran actress and the festival's co-executive director Kang Soo-youn said the festival would be the best chance to look at the past, present and future of Asian films.
"I can say that BIFF participants and viewers will be able to enjoy both past and present films from Asian countries as we invited many master filmmakers and new faces," Kang said.
"Not only notable Asian film gurus who have been with us for the past 20 years, but also new filmmakers will join and shine in this year's BIFF," Kang, who was appointed to the post in July, added.
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| BIFF's co-Executive Director Kang Soo-youn, left, BIFF Chairman Seo Byeong-soo and BIFF co-Executive Director Lee Yong-kwan hold a press conference on Aug. 25. Courtesy of BIF |
As the director mentioned, master directors from many Asian countries will bring their latest works to the festival including Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's "The Assassin," Japanese director Sion Sono's "The Virgin Psychics," Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Cemetery of Splendour" and Chinese director Zia Zhang-ke's "Mountains May Depart."
The festival also displays new Asian cinema talents in the "New Currents" section.
In the competitive section, eight films from Asian countries including Korean director Lee Seung-won's directorial debut film "Communication & Lies" will premiere.
Special events include "My French Cinema," a special screening of French film classics including Claude Lelouch's 1966 "A Man and a Woman"; and "Asian Cinema 100" screens 11 Asian films, which made the shortlist chosen by film critics.
Notable figures include actresses Nastassja Kinski of Germany, Sylvia Chang of Taiwan on the "New Currents" jury; English actress Tilda Swinton with her latest work "A Bigger Splash"; and Chinese actress Liu Yifei, who has recently revealed that she is dating Korean star actor Song Seung-heon.
No fanfare for 20th anniversary
The BIFF was embroiled in controversy as the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) decided to cut its financial support for the festival by almost half from 1.46 billion won ($12.4 million) to 800 million won in April.
While the KOFIC reasoned that the BIFF would not need that much money from this year as the festival has already reached international status, insiders in the film industry protested the decision, blaming the budget cut on the Busan city government's attempt to tame the festival organizers. This came after the organizers went against the government's request to cancel the screening of a documentary film "The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol," which documents the government's poor response to the Sewol ferry disaster, which resulted in 304 deaths.
"We've received a lot of support from political and film communities since we were notified of the budget cut last April, but there is still underfunding," Lee Yong-kwan, co-executive director of the BIFF said. "Thus, we had to downsize the event."
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