Seoul: Asia’s most influential film festival kicks off tomorrow in the South Korean port city of Busan, celebrating its 20th anniversary at a time of growing regional clout in the global movie market.
“An increasing number of filmmakers from around the world are paying attention to the importance and potential of Asian cinema and the market here,” said actress Kang Soo-Yeon, co-director of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).
“BIFF has always recognised the importance of Asian cinema and aimed to help introduce the region’s rising talent,” Kang said.
This year, the 10-day festival will open with the world premiere of Indian drama Zubaan by first-time director Mozez Singh.
BIFF has never had a Bollywood production as its curtain raiser and Singh described the selection of his movie as a “wonderful turn of events”. “All you really want is to make the best possible film that will reach out to as many people around the world as possible. Busan will give Zubaan this chance,” he said
The coming-of-age feature follows the story of a young man who uses music to question his role in modern Indian society.
“BIFF has constantly broken new ground by empowering new and young film makers and it continues to do so,” Singh said.
The festival’s 20th edition will showcase 304 movies from 75 countries, including 94 world premiers. Asian superstars such as Korea’s Jun Ji-Hyun and Lee Jung-Jae, China’s Tang Wei and Taiwan’s Chang Chen will walk the red carpet alongside Hollywood A-listers like Harvey Kietel and Tilda Swinton and Europe’s Sophie Marceau and Nastassja Kinski.
The combined box office collect of Asia’s biggest movie markets — China, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia — out-earned North America for the first time last year by $10.5bn to $10.4bn, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.
Much of that was down to stellar growth in China where box-office receipts surged 38 percent from 2013 to $4.8bn.
In the 20 years of its existence, BIFF has prided itself on identifying the film makers who have helped spur the industry’s growth in the region and on championing the cause of independent Asian cinema.
The 2015 Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award will be presented to Japan’s Studio Ghibli, formed by animation master Hayao Miyazaki and responsible for the Oscar-winner Spirited Away (2001).
AFP
