Films from all over the world can be seen at the 2013 Pusan Film Festival, and as the home of Korea, the festival has invited a significant number of Korean films. Films such as "Hwayi: The Child Who Devoured a Monster," "Sohwon" and "Strong Chul," which will be released in Korea in October 2013, as well as "Top Star" and "Roller Coaster," the debuts of actor-turned-director Park Chung-hoon and Ha Jung-woo, will be met with festival-goers in advance.
In the "New Wave Award" category, the new Korean film "Maiden," directed by Choi Jin-sung and starring Kim Si-hoo and Kim Yoon-hye, was shortlisted along with "Easter," directed by Ahn Sun-kyung. Set in a lakeside mountain village in Gangwon Province, "Maiden" has a "bloody romance" that combines a mysterious atmosphere with the ambiguous feelings of a teenager and a young girl. However, as the love deepens, the teenager and the young girl slowly turn into a relationship between the victim and the victimizer. Maiden" is the first full-length movie written and directed by Choi Jin-sung. The heroine of "Easter" is a 40-year-old female screenwriter who, as a vegetarian, has a carnivorous cat and a 17-year-old boyfriend, both of which are incomprehensible to her family and cause constant conflict at home.
The "Panorama" section of the "Korean Cinema Today" program ****invited 14 films, including Ha Jung-woo's directorial debut "Roller Coaster," Park Chong-hoon's directorial debut "Top Star," Kim Ki-duk's screenplay "The Star," and "The Star," which was written by Kim Ki-duk, as well as "The Star. Star", Kim Ki-duk's screenplay and producer + Lee Joon's first starring debut "Actor is an Actor", Hong Sang-soo's "Hae-won" and "We Seon-hye", Kim Ki-duk's new film "M?bius", which was invited to participate in the non-competition of the 70th Venice International Film Festival, director Ryu Seung-han's box office hit "Berlin" in the first half of 2013, the animation film "Fake" by director Yeon Sang-ho from "The King of the Pigs" and Jeon Gyu-hwan's "My Mysterious" from the director of "The King of the Pigs". My Boy, directed by Jeon Kyu-hwan. In the "vision" section, which showcases low-budget or independent films, 10 films have been selected, notably "Princess Han," directed by Lee Soo-jin, "Thuy," directed by Kim Jae-haan, and "Intruders," a new film by "Day Drinking" director Roh Yong-suk.
The GALA PRESENTATION***, which introduces new works by famous directors, invited six films from seven countries to participate in the festival, including two Korean films, "Train to the Snowy Kingdom," the first Korean film to be released simultaneously at the box office in multiple countries, and "The X," a Korean film by director Bong Joon-ho, and "The X," directed by Kim Ji-yoon.
This year's festival will be the first of its kind in Korea.
This year's Pusan International Film Festival invited Jia Zhangke's new film "Doomed", which was selected for the main competition at the 66th Cannes Film Festival, and Cao Baoping's indie "Dog 13", as well as the Franco-Chinese co-production "The Nightingale" by Philippe Muyl, to participate in the "Window on Asian Cinema" section, while the Pusan International Film Festival invited Bong Junho's new film "Snow Train" and Kim Jiyun's "The X", two Korean films that made their debut in the global box office. "Wang Bing, an old friend of the Pusan Film Festival, visited Pusan once again with his new documentary "Crazy Love". The "OPEN CINEMA" unit has "All Witnesses" directed by Fei Xing to participate in the screening, and it is worth mentioning that the leading actor Aaron Kwok will also serve as the host of the opening ceremony of the Busan Film Festival. Li Lian's animated film "Kunta: The Box" will be screened in the animation section of the Wide Angle Scope section.
In Hong Kong cinema, the activity of newcomers and female directors in 2013 is quite noteworthy. The two new films selected to be screened in the "Window on Asian Cinema" section are the works of two newcomers and female directors, one of which is the second feature "The Wailing Woman," which was written and directed by HUI Ngai-shu, and the other is "Crossing the Border," the debut feature "Crossing the Boundary," which was written and directed by LIU Yun-wen. The other is Liu Yunwen's debut film "Crossing the Line", which has also attracted a lot of attention because of the participation of Chen Kun, Liu Jialing and Tian Yuan.
Taiwanese films, director Tsai Ming-liang, together with Chen Chui-mui, Chen Tzu-hsien, Hsu Ching-luan, and Zhao Deyin, will be screened in the "Window on Asian Cinema" section, as well as "Summer Vacation Homework" by Zhang Zuo-ji and "Lost Souls" by Chung Meng-hong, all of which have different subject matters and styles. In particular, Lost Souls star Wang Yu will be in Busan to attend a fingerprinting ceremony and an interview about the world of martial arts action, and his 1967 starring role in Chang Cheh's The One-Armed Sword will also be screened. In addition, the Taipei City Film Commission and the Cannes Film Festival Director's Fortnight*** have also initiated the Taipei Factory, a project inspired by the word "Taipei", which brings together Taiwan's Chen Xinyi, Zhao Deyin, Shen Keshang, and Zhang Rongji, along with eight up-and-coming filmmakers from Chile, France, Iran, and South Korea***, who will work in groups to make four short films. The Factory in Taipei". The comedy film "The Chief Shopkeeper", written and directed by Chen Yu-hsun, will meet the audience in the "OPEN CINEMA" section.
In terms of short films, Lv Yi's "Brother" (China), Alexander Lau's US-China co-production "Faraway Lights" (Hong Kong, China), and Ding Min's "Three Light Bulbs" (Taiwan, China) have also been invited to participate in the "Wide Angle Mirror" Asian short film section. Masters' new works expected
The year 2013 can be said to be a year of recovery for the Japanese film industry, with a number of famous Japanese directors delivering their new works. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Yae, Wen Sonoko, Shinji Aoyama, Takashi Miike, Atsuhiro Yamashita, Kazuya Kumagiri, Lee Sang-il, Sabu, Hayao Miyazaki, Makoto Shinkai and many more have struck out in droves, making moviegoers who love Japanese cinema unable to stop their hearts. That's why the 2013 Pusan International Film Festival is different from previous years in that it has invited many Japanese films to be screened.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "The Real: The Day of the Perfect Snake-Necked Dragon" is a thriller that combines thriller and sci-fi, with the hero using a state-of-the-art medical device called "Sensing" to connect himself to his comatose lover and enter his mind in order to wake him up. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is also expected to open a new era in his movie world with this movie.
Yuwa Yeshiro's Cannes- and Toronto-shortlisted "Like Father, Like Son" again focuses on a family story, with Masaharu Fukuyama taking on the role of father for the first time, when he suddenly learns that his 6-year-old son is not his own, but was carried by the wrong hospital at birth. He is faced with a very painful choice, after all, up to 6 years of father-son love there, in front of the huge entanglement and contradiction, he is plunged into an unprecedented family crisis. Masaharu Fukuyama's acting this time has been well received, and he has been criticized for being a "male vase". As usual, Yukazu's work is simple and clean, leaving a long lasting impression on the viewers' hearts.
Shinji Aoyama's "Side Effects" and Winnie Sonoko's "Why Hell Hurts" both focus on the violent instincts of human nature, and will bring a huge impact on the audience's imagination. Set in the summer of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, at the end of the Showa era, "Side by Side" tells the story of a high school teenager and his father, who is a domestic violence victim, in a tragic destiny of father-son conflict, and it was previously selected for the main competition of the 66th Locarno International Film Festival. And "Why Hell Is Bad" mixes real gangster bloodshed with cinematography, an intriguing subject matter that won the Midnight Madness Award for best audience member at the 38th Toronto International Film Festival.
Atsuhiro Yamashita and Kazuchika Kumagiri, both of whom worked together in Osaka, are now making their mark on mainstream cinema. Both also have new films at the Busan festival this time around, the world premiere of "The Reluctant Tamako" and the overseas premiere of "The End of Summer". Popular Japanese actress Atsuko Maeda returns to star in the new movie from director Atsuhiro Yamashita after "Train to Hardship," playing a troubled teenager who spends all her time at home after graduation and has no desire to find a job. Summer's End" tells the story of Chiko, a heroine played by Mitsuko Mitsushima, who has an incestuous love triangle with a married man, writer Shingo (Kaoru Kobayashi), and with a man younger than her (Tsuyoshi Ayano).
Japanese-Korean director Lee Sang-il's "Unforgiven," a Japanese remake of American director Clint Eastwood's classic western, starring Ken Watanabe, is also a favorite in the "GALA PRESENTATION" category. Set in Hokkaido, Japan, after the collapse of the Edo Shogunate in 1880, the movie stars Watanabe as a former Shogunate soldier named Kama-Ta Jubei, who lives an ordinary life with his wife and is once again drawn into the brutal war because of a big bonus, similar to Eastwood's character William Manny in the original film.
Japanese director Sabu (real name: Hiroki Tanaka), who has taken some time off for health reasons, has made a very low-budget movie this time with his new film, "Miss Zombie. The new movie is a return to the style of his early debut, pursuing narrative dynamics and developing a unique personal style. It is also Sabu's latest work after 2011's White Rabbit Sugar. The film is in all black and white, and the first teaser trailer is cluttered with clips that don't give any indication of the plot, but you can feel Sabu's still spooky tone.
R100, the fourth directorial effort by Matsumoto, who is known as "Takeshi Kitano's second," has been selected as a finalist for the "Window on Asian Cinema" program. Previously, director Matsumoto directed his first three directorial works "The Great Japanese", "Symbol" and "Samurai with a Sheath but no Sword", which have all appeared in the Pusan Film Festival, and this is the fourth consecutive time that Matsumoto's directorial works have been in Pusan. The film tells the story of the main character (Minamoto Omori), who is unable to open his heart, enters an enigmatic club, where mysterious beauties appear one after another in front of his eyes, and a never-before-experienced fantasy entertainment blockbuster is about to unfold. A luxurious cast of actresses including Mao Ochi, Shinobu Terashima, Iris Katagiri, Ai Tominaga, Eriko Sato, Naomi Watanabe and many more will be featured in a spectacular **** performance.
New directors on the scene
Another reason for the high profile of Japanese cinema in 2013 is the emergence of many talented young directors, and the Busan International Film Festival, which has always focused on new directors, certainly won't miss the chance to introduce them to a wider audience.
Tai Yoshihiko, an advertising director, wrote and directed "Present For You," a fresh combination of live-action and doll animation, and starred Jean Odagiri, one of the most familiar Japanese actors to Korean audiences, who starred alongside Lee Na-young in "Sad Dreams," directed by Kim Ki-duk, and Jang Dong-gun in "Landing Day," a war movie directed by Kang Di-gyu.
Director Keiichi Hara's "The First Road" is a commemorative production for the 100th anniversary of the late director Keisuke Kinoshita's birth and is based on a story of director Kinoshita's youth. The Busan Film Festival will also feature a special screening of "24 Eyes," director Keisuke Kinoshita's masterpiece from 1954.
Kazuya Shiraishi, whose 2009 debut film "Tokyo Paradise Lost" was selected for the Pusan International Film Festival's "New Wave Award" competition, returns with his second feature film, "Vicious. Also screening at the Busan Film Festival will be Anatomy of a Paper Clip, the feature film debut of Hiroshi Ikeda; The Road to Love, the feature film debut of Shingo Matsumura; Nostalgia, the second feature film of Hiroshi Hirohara; and Again, the feature film debut of Junichi Kanai, who won the Zenkai Prize last year for his work on The School Transfer Student. The 2013 Busan Film Festival has also invited a number of films from Southeast Asian countries, as in previous years, and it is refreshing to see the energetic young directors appearing one by one during 2012-2013. Although most of them are not very familiar to Chinese audiences, they have their own characteristics and are worth checking out during the festival. After all, Chinese audiences, who are usually bombarded with Chinese, American, Japanese and Korean films, rarely pay much attention to such films except at major international festivals like this one.
In the "Window on Asian Cinema" section, "The Limits of History," by Filipino director Ralph Daz, tells the story of a man who is wrongfully imprisoned for a murder, while the real murderer goes free. The murderer is a man of letters, chilled by the succession of betrayals and indifference in his country. After encountering some strange and mysterious events, the man behind bars feels that life behind bars is no longer so unbearable. Another Filipino director, Adolfo ALIX, JR.'s experimental film, Death March, focuses on the Bataan province of the Philippines in 1942, where thousands of Filipino and American GIs are forced to walk under the blazing sun, facing epidemics, starvation, and mistreatment by the ferocious Japanese army. Brillante Mendoza's socially critical-themed documentary "Sapi" (Madness) and the Jerrold Tarog-directed rom-com "If Only" are also notable.
Thai screenwriter Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's "Mary is Happy" and Saranyoo Jirala's "Together" were among the Thai films featured in the "Window on Asian Cinema" section of the festival, which was held in 2010. Indonesian director Mouly SURYA's WHAT THEY DON'T TALK ABOUT WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT LOVE, which received funding from the APM (Asian Film Projects Market), also delivered a promising result. Malaysian director Ida NERINA's "Woman's Story" and Malaysian director Tan Chui mui's "Origin and Separation", as well as "Once Upon a Time in Vietnam" directed by Dustin Nguyen, a Vietnamese actor who has also made a career in Hollywood, have also been invited to participate in the festival.
In the "New Wave Award" category, Filipina director Hannah ESPIA's directorial debut "Transit", Thai director Lee CHATAMETIKOOL's "Dark Clouds", Thai directors Sopawan BOONNIMITRA and Peerachai KERDSINTINTOOL were also invited. Peerachai KERDSINT, Thai director Sopawan BOONNIMITRA, and Indonesian director Dirmawan HATTA's directorial debut TOILET BLUES also made stunning appearances. With the exception of "Transit", which had its overseas premiere, the other three were world premieres.
In the Wide Angle Lens section, Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, winner of the 2013 Asian Filmmaker Award, and Filipino filmmaker Baby Ruth Villarama's "Mutilated Images," were the first films to be screened in the section. Jazz in Love by Philippine director Baby Ruth Villarama, To Singapore, with Love by Singaporean director Tan Pin Pin, Malaysia's Past Present, Indonesia's Jalanan Streetsid and the Vietnamese crime drama Someone Is Going to the Woods (有人走进森林). (Someone Is Going to Forest, 29 min.), the Malaysian-Singaporean co-production The Harvester (13 min.), Indonesia's A Lady Caddy Who Never Saw a Hole in One (15 min.), the Philippine film Prologue to the Great Desaparecido (15 min.), and other documentaries. the Great Desaparecido" (31 points) from the Philippines, and "Johnny Loves Dolores" (27 points) from the U.S. will all meet Korean audiences. The most talked-about is the Thai ghost movie "Guifu," directed by "Ghost" director Banjong Pisanthanakun and starring "Love in Siam's" Mario Maurer, which is scary and hilarious, with handsome men and beautiful women, and will make viewers both scared and laughing at the same time. There are also three directors Kittithat Tangsirikit, Sittisiri Mongkolsir and Saranyoo Jiralak co-directed the horror film "Last Summer" (Last Summer), is not lost in anticipation. Indian and Iranian cinema, arguably the representatives of South and West Asia, are among the many films invited to the Busan International Film Festival in 2013. In the "New Wave Award" section, Iranian director Mehdi PARIZAD's "Love in the Past" and Indian director Girish Malik's "Water" are both world premieres.
In the "Window on Asian Cinema" section, Iranian director Asghar FARHATI, who made a big splash with "Once Upon a Time," brought his new film "Passing," and French actress Berenice BEAUJO, who won the Best Actress Award at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival in 2013, in the lead role. Iranian director Jafar Panahi teams up with Cambodian director Kambuzia Partovi*** to co-direct Closing, the socially-charged feature film Trapped, the comedy The Painting Pool, the drama The Shallow Yellow Sky and the The Shallow Yellow Sky, and the one-shot Fish & Cat, all of which will be screened as representatives of Iranian cinema. Indian films include Vikas Bahl's women's film Queen, the Indian-French-German co-production Lunch and Lunch, the crime romance David, Laxman Utekar's directorial debut The Letter, Anup Singh's Qissa: The Ghost is a Lonely Traveller, Prakrit Singh's Qissa: The Ghost is a Lonely Traveller and The Ghost is a Lonely Traveller, all of which will screen as Iranian films. Traveller," the Prakash Jha-written and directed "The Protest," and the Santosh Sivan-directed "Ceylon.
The most notable Indian documentary in the "Wide Angle Lens" section is "His Smile," directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, which chronicles the daily life of Kim Dong-ho, the honorary executive committee member of the Busan International Film Festival. Two other short films, "Between One Day" by Behzad Azadi, a young director born in 1990, and "Morning Walk" by Omkar Achyut Barve, as well as "The World of Goopi and Bagha," a unique animated film by Shilpa Ranade, were also screened. and more.