AFA celebrates 10th anniversary

In addition to its usual filmmaking workshops, the academy is holding reunion-like meetings called AFA Pipeline, where current fellows meet former ones, discuss current projects and share their AFA experiences.

The academy is also holding special screenings of two alumni films with their directors in attendance: AFA 2005 graduate Edwin’s Indonesian film Postcards From The Zoo, which was in Berlinale Competition in 2012, and AFA 2010 graduate Abu Shahed Emon’s Bangladeshi film Jalal’s Story, which is in the New Currents competition this year.

Edwin says AFA for him “was an eye opener to know more about the future of cinema. Asian Film Academy was a great experience for me, the tutors as well as the peers. It meant so much for a young filmmaker to enjoy the discourse that was less available in my own country. I still keep in touch with many of my peers from AFA. I’m looking forward to meeting the new AFA family, to discover passion and love of cinema.”

Known for its networking value as well as its educational, the AFA has put together renowned mentors and budding filmmakers who keep in touch long after the programme is over.

Emon said: “The 17 days’ intensive workshop was [my] most interesting collaboration experience so far. 23 other participants not only shared their cinematic vision with each other, but also became friends. It is a great motivational boost as an independent filmmaker. It was a life changing experience of watching the cinema culture in Korea and so many other legends so closely. For example, I participated in AFA 2010 and that year the dean was world famous Iranian master filmmaker Mr. Abbas Kiarostami. I think AFA is the best place for any Asian aspiring filmmaker to be part of. Once you take part you become part of the AFA family.”

Emon’s script Jong And Wendy was one of the two projects selected for production in his year and he received an AFA Fund for post-production. He also won Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) Script Development support for his debut feature project The Tale Of A Policeman, which participated in Asian Project Market (APM) 2011. His short The Container, which screened in BIFF 2012, benefited from the AFA Fellowship Fund and Jalal’s Story won ACF support for post-production.

Looking forward to the world premiere of his film in Busan this year, Emon said he felt like returning to the festival and AFA to talk with fellows would be “like visiting my own home. I wish AFA’s continuous success in coming future and I firmly believe AFA will grow larger in coming years with its alumni community. Already AFA alumni are participating in so many big festivals. I wish they will keep celebrating 25 years…50 years…100 years….and so on with their alumni and new fellow and shine in the cinema world.”

This year’s AFA dean is Hungarian director Bela Tarr (The Turin Horse). He’s joined in leading the programme by Busan Film Commission director Oh Seok-geun as deputy dean and Korean filmmaker Song Il-gon (Spider Forest) as a directing mentor.

The 18-day programme started Sept 25 with 24 young filmmakers from 17 countries in Asia. It comprises 20 workshops, mentoring sessions and training with well-known directors and industry experts in areas such as producing, directing, cinematography, screenwriting, digital cinema mastering, production design, editing, sound engineering and color grading. Tarr will also give a master class.

The participants will produce two short films during the programme and they will be screened Oct 10 at the Busan Cinema Center.

Also as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, New York Film Academy (NYFA) is to invite two selected AFA fellows to take part in their educational programmes after Busan.

In addition, AFA has invited professors from Full Sail University to give special lectures on screenwriting and filmmaking with the iPad and iPhone.

AFA is hosted by BIFF, Dongseo University and Busan Film Commission.