Motherland

Source: Busan IFF

‘Motherland’

The 29th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, October 2-11) has revealed the line-ups for its competitive New Currents and Jiseok sections, which include the latest features from award-winning filmmakers Brillante Mendoza, Rima Das and Tom Lin.

The Jiseok strand, launched in 2022, is reserved for Asian filmmakers who have directed at least three features and this year comprises eight titles.

Scroll down for full list of titles

They include Motherland by Filipino director Mendoza, which explores the bloody Mamasapano incident of 2015, when 44 police commandos and more than 20 others were killed in a deadly operation. The filmmaker has previously played in competition at Berlin, Cannes and Venice with titles including Captive, Ma’ Rosa and Thy Womb, and won BIFF’s Kim Jiseok Award with Gensan Punch in 2021.

India’s Das returns to BIFF with Village Rockstars 2, a sequel to the 2017 coming-of-age drama that premiered at Toronto and went on to win best feature at India’s National Film Awards before being submitted by the country to the Oscars. The follow-up continues the story of the teenage girl Dhunu, who steps up as a guitarist in a band while maturing as the head of her family.

Taiwan’s Lin, known for Winds Of September, Zinnia Flower and The Garden Of Evening Mists, will premiere Yen And Ai-Lee. Yang Kuei-Mei and Hsia Kimi star as a mother and daughter who reunite after eight years of imprisonment.

The section also includes Japanese features Aimitagai by Shogo Kusano and Traveling Alone by Ishibashi Yuho; South Korean films I Am Love by Baek Seungbin and So It Goes by Lee Haram; and trafficking genre film Deal At The Border by Kyrgyzstani director Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi.

The New Currents competitive section is for films by directors making their first or second works of fiction and comprises 10 titles from Kazakhstan, China, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar and Indonesia.

The Korean include are The Land Of Morning Calm by Park Ri-woong, whose received acclaim for his 2022 debut The Girl On A Bulldozer. His latest unravels the story of a young fisherman’s disappearance and an old captain mysteriously involved in this case.

Chinese filmmaker Charles Hu will premiere As the River Goes By, a post-production fund recipient from Asian Cinema Fund 2024, while Able, directed by Kazakhstan’s Elzak Eskendir, is a selection from Busan’s Asian Project Market in 2020.

Further titles include The Height of the Coconut Trees, the first Japanese film of Chinese director Du Jie, who has also served as cinematographer for major commercial films such as Moon Man.

BIFF will announce its full line up on September 3.

New Currents

Abel (Kazak)
Dir. Elzat Eskendir

As The River Goes By (China)
Dir. Charles Hu

For Rana (Iran)
Dir. Iman Yazdi 

The Height Of The Coconut Trees (Japan)
Dir. Jie Du 

Kaneko’s Commissary (Japan)
Dir. Go Furukawa 

The Land Of Morning Calm (S Kor)
Dir. Park Ri-woong 

MA - Cry Of Silence (My-S Kor-Sing-Fr-Nor-Qat)
Dir. The Maw Naing 

Montages Of A Modern Motherhood (HK-China)
Dir. Oliver Siu Kuen Chan 

Tale Of The Land (Indo-Phil-Qat)
Dir. Loeloe Hendra 

Waterdrop (S Kor)
Dir. Choi Jongyong

Jiseok

Aimitagai (Japan)
Dir. Shogo Kusano 

Deal At The Border (Kyrg)
Dir. Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi 

I Am Love (S Kor)
Dir. Baek Seungbin 

Motherland (Phil)
Dir. Brillante Mendoza 

So It Goes (S Kor)
Dir. Lee Haram 

Traveling Alone (Japan)
Dir. Ishibashi Yuho 

Village Rockstars 2 (India)
Dir. Rima Das 

Yen And Ai-Lee (Tai)
Dir. Tom Lin

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