Busan Film Festival Celebrates 20th Anniversary

There was wind, there was rain but all anyone really cared about was looking at the stars as filmmakers from Asia and beyond gathered in South Korea Thursday night for a Bollywood-flavoured launch of the 20th Busan worldwide Film Festival.

The opening ceremony of the Busan global Film Festival is packed with spectators in Haeundae in the southern port city on Thursday.

“Zubaan” is an Indian musical drama film written and directed by Mozez Singh, starring Vicky Kaushal and Sarah Jane Dias.

“Zubaan” follows a young man born to a poor family who embarks on a long journey to find life’s important values and his true self under the influence of his deceased father after he achieves much awaited success.

Festival director Lee Yong-kwan went ahead with the premiere of “Truth” past year, contending that BIFF has a responsibility to maintain artistic freedom and not withdraw a selection because of pressure.

“The strength of the festival is in providing a sense of what’s new, particularly in Asia”, said Darcy Paquet, a Seoul-based film critic and manager of the website Koreanfilm.org.

After screening about 300 movies from 75 countries, the festival will close on October 10 with the Chinese drama “Mountain Cry”. The council argued that as South Korea’s largest and best-known film festival, BIFF was in less need of government support and the available funds were better off distributed among smaller events.

Also in the lineup are Tang Wei, the Chinese actress who married Korean filmmaker Kim Tae-yong; Taiwanese actor Chen Bolin; and actress Yang Kuei-mei, as well as Korean stars Jun Ji-hyun, Yoo Ah-in and Lee Jung-jae.

It is the directorial debut of Mozez Singh, a recognized Indian independent film writer.

“We focused our efforts to show the mature aspect of the festival rather than holding showy events”, he said during the news conference. The central government later halved its subsidy for the film festival without giving a clear reason.