Asia’s largest Busan Film Festival opens with 80% reduction in screenings

North Korea:

Asia’s largest annual film festival kicked off in South Korea on Wednesday at a fraction of its usual scale, but some moviegoers will still be able to attend screenings despite the coronavirus forcing many events online.

The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) typically sees a host of stars and industry players from Asia and beyond descend into the port city for 10 days of critical thinking and financial negotiation.

But strict conditions imposed this year due to the pandemic mean there will be no opening ceremony, red carpet parades, after-parties or outdoor fan events.

The fact that it takes place at all, however, is a bonus, as many international festivals have gone online only and some – like Cannes – have been canceled altogether.

This year marks the festival’s 25th anniversary and comes after local director Bong Joon-ho’s historic Oscar win for the dark comedy “Parasite” in February – the first time a foreign language film has won top honors.

Around 190 films will be screened at this year’s festival and only once each, compared to the roughly 300 typical films played multiple times – an 80% reduction in the total number of screenings.

Participants will have to wear masks, while social distancing will be reinforced by making only a quarter of the theater seats available.

“We are doing our best to deliver what is most essential while respecting Covid-19 security measures,” Nam Dong-chul, director of the BIFF program, told AFP.

“We believe that what is most important at film festivals is to show films in theaters, because cinema is an art form that requires large screens.”

The organizers have scheduled some 45 public screening conferences – also much less than normal – but with only South Korean filmmakers and actors.

South Korea imposes a strict two-week quarantine on most arrivals, making short visits impractical, so organizers have not invited foreigners – although some will participate online.

The compromise left some people dismayed.

“I have attended a number of online film conferences since Covid, and I have to say they are just appalling,” said filmmaker Kim So-young, a professor who hasn’t missed an edition of the BIFF for 10 years.

“You just can’t connect with your viewers like you do in theaters, especially after the lights come back after a screening,” she told AFP.

“There is a very special feeling that comes from knowing that you are with people who have just finished watching your movie.”

Among 70 world premieres this year, the opening film Septet: The History of Hong Kong, a multi-director anthology that pays homage to the territory from the 1950s to the present day.

Directed by Tsui Hark, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Johnnie To, Yuen Wo Ping, Ringo Lam and Sammo Hung, the film pays homage to the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The territory was once the regional cinematic powerhouse, producing up to 200 Cantonese-language films a year that were devoured by moviegoers in Asia and beyond.

But since then, the city’s film studios have declined, overshadowed by more showy and wealthy rivals in mainland China and South Korea.

“It was an era of ‘a hundred flowers in bloom’ – the free expression of art – that nurtured many film talents,” production company Media Asia Film Hong Kong said in a statement.

Most components of the BIFF – including judgments, press conferences, film and project markets, and discussion forums – will still be held during the festival, but online.

“It will definitely be a different festival this year,” Jason Bechervaise, professor at Korea Soongsil Cyber ​​University, told AFP.

“If we hadn’t been in this situation, the festival would undoubtedly have a party atmosphere given the success of Parasite and the attention that has followed the Korean film industry.”

(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)