Busan Film Festival kicks off, showcases Asian cinema
Seoul, Oct 6 (efe) .- The 26th edition of the Busan International Film festival began Wednesday for a 10-day run marked by a resemblance to normalcy as Covid-19 vaccinations continue in South Korea.
Among the titles presented is Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, a Cannes’ Jury Prize winner starring Tilda Swinton, which journeys the viewers into the heart of violence in Colombia.
Mexican film director Michel Franco presented Sundown, an intimate drama starring Tim Roth (with whom he already worked with in Chronic) and French-English actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Tim Roth also stars in another film in which Mexico is a co-producer, “Bergman Island”, by Mia Hansen Love, a production shot on the island of Faro, where Swedish director Ingmar Bergman lived and resided.
The event- one of the largest in Asia and held in South Korea’s second biggest city – returns this year on a larger scale after the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2020 edition were canceled and foreign artists were not invited due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The festival will showcase 223 productions from 70 countries with screenings held at half capacity while 54% of the South Korean population has been fully vaccinated.
The awarding jury of the official section, focused on Asian productions by first-time filmmakers this year, is chaired by the Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta.
A reimagined version of the German Tragicomedy Knockin ‘on heaven’s door” (1997) by the South Korean Im Sang-soo, Heaven: to the land of happiness, will be the first film showcased at the twenty-sixth edition of the festival.
The biographical film Anita of Hong Kong singer Anita Mui directed by Leung Longman is the feature film chosen to close the exhibition. EFE
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