The Pusan International Film Festival, one of the biggest film festivals in Asia, will celebrate its 12th year in October with a cascade of Asian films, many of them portraying individuals grappling with modern-day issues like war, family fall-out and urban poverty.
Opening the nine-day event from Oct. 4-12 will be "Assembly," a Chinese drama about a fallen soldier of the 1948 Chinese civil war, fought between the communists and the nationalists.
It is unusual for PIFF to choose a foreign film as its opener, but the $10 million film by Feng Xiaogang of "The Banquet" has a Korean element: it is a joint production between China's Huayi Brothers Media & Co and Korea's MK Pictures, and all battle scenes were created by the Korean special effects team that worked on the 2004 Korean blockbuster "Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War."
The emergence of Japanese, Chinese and Indian commercial movies will also be highlighted during the Oct. 4-12 festival, organizers said, along with independent films from Southeast Asia.
"Japan, China and India had remarkable achievements last year, their commercial movies standing tall in theaters. Also, the visible growth of independent movies from the Philippines and Malaysia will be highlighted in this year's festival," said Kim Ji-seok, the head programmer.
Notable independent films will include Filipino Brillante Mendoza's "Foster Child," which tells the emotionally laden story of a foster mother taking care of children in the slums of Manila, and "Solos," directed by Singaporean Kan Lume and Loo Zihan, which has become controversial for its intense depiction of homosexuality through the story of a teacher-student relationship and an emotionally remote mother.
Japanese movies like "The Rebirth" by cult director Masahiro Kobayashi and "Into the Faraway Sky" by Isao Yukisada will highlight the sizzling Japanese film industry, where homegrown movies raked in half of the market share last year, the organizers said.
India's film industry will be showcased through Santosh Sivan's "Before the Rains," a story of friendship and conflict between a Briton and a local, and Mani Ratnam's "Guru," a more mainstream Bollywood movie about an ambitious man striving to climb the social ladder on his way to wealth.
Taiwanese director Edward Yang, who died in June, will be posthumously honored as the Asian Filmmaker of the Year for his contribution to Asian cinema. His 2000 film "Yi Yi: A One and A Two," depicting the emotional struggles of a businessman and the life of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei through three generations, won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Yang's wife, the pianist Kaili Peng, will receive the trophy on his behalf.
Yang's films will be showcased in a retrospective session, along with films by Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui, many of which are based on Iranian and foreign novels and plays, including "Pari" (1995), an adaptation of J.D. Salinger's "Franny and Zooey."
The event will also screen films by established directors, such as Singaporean Royston Tan, whose musical "881" will be shown, in addition to Korean Lee Myung-se's mystery melodrama "M" and Taiwanese Hou Hsiao Hsien's "Flight of the Red Balloon," inspired by the classic 1956 French film "The Red Balloon."
Current trends in local cinema will be highlighted in the latest films from Korea's veteran directors, such as "Beyond the Years" by Im Kwon-taek, "Secret Sunshine" by Lee Chang-dong and "The Old Garden" by Im Sang-soo. However, the selection also reveals the dwindling production of homegrown cinema, which lost steam this year amid the influx of Hollywood heavyweights, organizers said.
Eleven films, all to have their international premieres at the festival, will vie for the festival's
only competitive prize, the New Currents Award, which will give three first-time Asian directors
$30,000 in cash.
Closing the curtain will be the Japanese anime "Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone," by Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki and Masayuki, a big-screen adaptation of the 1995 TV animated series "Neon Genesis Evangelion," which attracted die-hard fans and enjoys popularity even today, the organizing committee said.
This year, PIFF will present 275 films, 193 of which are international or Asia premieres.
