Banned Thai political drama Shakespeare Must Die, directed by Ing K, will be among the films screening in the Asian Competition section of the 6th Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival (CinDi).
“I thank CinDi for inviting my film even though they had to ship it under a secret name – Teenage Love Story – because the film is banned in Thailand, where people live in fear. I’m suing the government so I shouldn’t even be here,” the director said at the opening ceremony.
She continued: “We are fighting because in Thailand, directors have less than human rights. But I promise Shakespeare Must Die is not boring. I made it like a Mexican soap opera and a Thai horror film. You can see it, even though Thai people can’t see it.”
The festival opened yesterday (Aug 22) with recently deceased Chilean director Raoul Ruiz’s Night Across The Street.
CinDi is showcasing 78 films from 32 countries including 15 films in Asian Competition, six in the newly established Bright Focus section for unreleased Korean films, and 11 in the revamped Butterfly competition for directors’ next projects.
“In the spirit of discovery and support, CinDi’s goal is to showcase and encourage the new possibilities of digital films,” said festival director Park Ki-Yong as he introduced the lineup and filmmakers onstage with programme director Chung Sung-ill.
Chung and Park also introduced clips of the 11 Butterfly directors’ films along with the synopses of their next projects.
“CinDi’s Butterfly section is currently the biggest production support programme in Korea and unprecedented elsewhere as far as we know. It is very different from others in that it offers support not just for one stage of production, but for all stages of a selected project from script to theatrical release,” said Park.
Three projects selected from the Butterfly section will receive up to $265,500 (KW300m) in support from leading local investor/distributor and official CinDi partner CJ E&M.
For the full CinDi lineup, see www.cindi.or.kr.
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