The Busan International Film Festival will expand its film program by about 8%, describing it as an “attempt to maintain a size worthy of Asia’s largest film festival,” despite a 50% cut in government funding.
The festival opens on October 2 with “Uprising,” a star-studded historical drama from Netflix written and produced by Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy”) and directed by Kim Sang-man.
The final film on October 11th will be “Spirit World”, directed by Eric Khoo, which the Singaporean director shot in Japan with the French icon Catherine Deneuve in the leading role.
“Uprising” is about a servant (played by Gang Dong-won) and his master, the son of a noble family with ties to the military. Although they agree that the servant should be free, complications arise. The film also stars Cha Seung-won, Kim Shin-rock, Jin Sun-kyu and Jung Sung-il. “With Park Chan-wook’s trademark humor seeping through the well-woven narrative that is full of intense conflict and tension, the film is driven with a powerful and captivating energy that really stands out,” said the festival selectors.
The festival is awarding the prestigious “Asian Filmmaker of the Year” prize to Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi, whose “Cloud” recently premiered in Venice and whose “Serpent’s Path” is celebrating its international premiere in San Sebastian. Both films will be shown in Busan.
The festival announced that it will screen 224 titles (including features and short films) in its official selection, with another 55 films being screened as part of its community outreach program. To handle the expanded program, the festival will use 28 screens in seven venues, including the KOFIC Theater near the festival center in the Centum area.
Despite the high profile and soft power of Korea’s entertainment sector, government funding for the arts has been cut under the current government. The Busan festival has had to seek more commercial sponsors and private funds, a task made even more difficult after internal power struggles became public last year. In January, the festival appointed the experienced Park Kwang-su as chairman, but left Pak Dosin as deputy director, and still has no permanent festival director.
In the run-up to Tuesday’s press announcement, the festival had already announced a retrospective for Miguel Gomes, a tribute to the late Korean star Lee Sun-kyun and the introduction of a “Teen Spirit, Teen Movie” section.
In addition, the selection for the two main competition sections “New Currents” and “Jiseok” was announced.
However, other changes, such as the introduction of a Documentary Audience Award worth KRW 10,000,000 (USD 7,500) and the majority of the non-competitive programming, have yet to be announced.
The festival’s five most important gala slots go to Kurosawa’s “Cloud” and “Serpent’s Path”, Jia Zhangke’s “Caught by the Tides”, Gomes’ “Grand Tour” and Patricia Mazuy’s “Visiting Hours”.
