The opening night of the 29th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) saw a starry audience of more than 4,500 guests in fits of laughter as well as reduced to tears at a ceremony tonight (October 3).
Staged under the illuminated roof of the Busan Cinema Center in South Korea, directors, actors and producers from more than 70 films in BIFF’s official selection walked the red carpet, including Thai star Billkin from blockbuster How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, India’s Banita Das from Village Rockstars 2 and Filipino director Brillante Mendoza. Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae was also in attendance as well as Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes, who is the subject of a career retrospective at this year’s festival.
This year’s honorary Asian Filmmaker of the Year award was presented to Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a prolific filmmaker and Cannes regular who won the Silver Lion for best director at Venice in 2020 with Wife Of A Spy.
Congratulatory video messages were sent by Oscar-winning Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho and fellow Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi while an on-screen tribute from US filmmaker Martin Scorsese read: “He’s an absolute master of light, framing and pacing and he has so much control over all three that there are moments in his movies when the slightest gesture in the corner of the frame will send a shiver down your spine.”
Kurosawa’s latest two films, Cloud and Serpent’s Path, will play during the festival. Taking to the stage to accept the award, the filmmaker said: “I first participated in BIFF 20 years ago so it’s no exaggeration to say that BIFF has witnessed half of my film career… I believe the audience at BIFF is the most sophisticated in the world. I came to Busan to present my films to such a discerning audience. Whether you’ve been watching my films for the past 20 years or it’s your first time, I hope you’ll enjoy them.
First Camellia Award
The night also included a presentation of the festival’s first Camellia Award, created with fashion house Chanel and given to a filmmaker whose work has enhanced the status of women in the film industry.
The honour was presented to production designer Ryu Seon-hie, known for her work on features including Memories Of Murder, Oldboy, The Host, Ode To My Father and Decision To Leave. Auteur Park Chan-wook, who directed Decision To Leave, said in a written tribute: “She fundamentally changed the production design of Korean cinema… It is a great blessing for us and for the Korean film industry to have someone like her.”
Rye, who previously became the first Korean woman to win the Vulcain Prize at Cannes with The Handmaiden in 2016, told the BIFF audience: “When I first started my career, there weren’t many female production designers, and genre films were considered a male domain. I was often told that they would contact me only if they were producing melodramas or romance films. Being rejected countless times by production companies, I decided to survive and to change their bias.
“I wanted to prove that genre films made by women can also be creative, intense, rough and terrifying. And they could express all the joys and sorrows of human life, touching the audience with delicacy. If we let go of prejudice and give everyone equal opportunities, the possibilities will be limitless.”
Moving tribute
In an unusual moment during the ceremony, BIFF chairperson Park Kwang-su called on everyone to laugh spontaneously, starting with the actors in the crowd.
Not long after, it followed by the Korean Cinema Award, which is presented to those who have contributed to promoting Korean film globally and was posthumously awarded to Lee Sun-kyun, the star of Parasite that died by suicide aged 48 last December. A montage of his films left many in the crowd in tears.
The festival will present a special focus titled In Memory of Lee Sun-kyun, which will include six of the actor’s most well-known films and TV series: Park Chan-ok’s Paju; Hong Sangsoo’s Our Sunhi; Kim Seong-hun’s A Hard Day; Kim Wonsuk’s TV series My Mister; Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite; and Choo Chang-min’s Land Of Happiness.
Special talk events will be scheduled alongside the films, which have been programmed to reflect on and commemorate the achievements of the late actor.
Actress and opening ceremony co-host Park Boyoung said: “It was a truly poignant goodbye. Just as in the final words of My Mister, we sincerely hope he had found the peace he sought.”
BIFF, whose slogan this year is Vision of Asia, Ocean of Cinema, will screen 279 films throughout this edition. It opened with Kim Sang-man’s Uprising, a Netflix action drama that marks the first time a streaming title has opened Asia’s largest film festival. The festival will close on October 11 with Eric Khoo’s Spirit World.
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