Forgot password

 

 

During a press conference held at the Koreana Hotel in Seoul on Tuesday afternoon, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) revealed a packed-to-the-gills lineup for its upcoming 20th edition. Opening BIFF on October 1st will be Mozez SINGH’s Zubaan from India while the Chinese indie drama Mountain Cry by Larry YANG will close the fest nine days later.

 

Assembling 304 films from 75 countries, BIFF will play host to some 94 world and 27 international premieres. Festival co-directors LEE Yong-kwan and KANG Soo-yeon announced this year’s Gala Presentation, which will include HOU Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin, JIA Zhangke’s Mountains May Depart, KORE-EDA Hirokazu’s Our Little Sister, Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash with Tilda Swinton, Claude Lelouch’s Un Plus Une and Color of Asia - Masters, a new joint venture between BIFF and Youku Todou Inc., a major Chinese video-sharing website. The omnibus will feature entries by acclaimed Asian filmmakers such as IM Sang-soo, KAWASE Naomi, WANG Xiaoshuai and Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL.

 

The festival will this year field 33 feature world premieres from Korea, among them Night and Fog in Zona, a near four-hour docudrama on WANG Bing, which marks the sophomore outing of JUNG Sung-il (Cafe Noir, 2010), 4th Place by JUNG Ji-woo (Eungyo, 2012), actor CHO Jae-hyun’s debut A Break Alone, a French-Korean co-production A Korean in Paris from Busan native JEON Soo-il, and Eyelids, from Jiseul (2013) helmer O Muel.

 

Fresh from domestic releases or other international festival invites will be RYOO Seung-wan’s Veteran, CHOI Dong-hoon’s Assassination, HONG Sang-soo’s Right Now, Wrong Then, KIM Ki-duk’s Stop, HONG Won-chan’s Office and SHIN Su-won’s Madonna, among many more.

 

This year’s special programs will include ‘Top 100 Asian films’ which will feature the top-ranked films in a special poll of the best films in Asian cinema history, ‘My French Cinema’, and a Korean cinema retrospective entitled ‘Hidden Masterpieces of the 1960s’.

 

Cannes favorites are featured prominently, and will include Palme d’Or winner Dheepan from Jacques AUDIARD, Denis VILLENEUVE’s Sicario, László NEMES’ Grand Prix awardee Son of Saul and Yorgos LANTHIMOS’ The Lobster, which picked up the Jury Prize. New works by SONO Sion (The Virgin Psychics), Johnnie TO (Office), Rajamouli SS (Baahubali: The Beginning) and CHEANG Pou-Soi (SPL 2: A Time for Consequences) are also on the docket.