PIFF lines up Asian auteurs for omnibus project

Korea’s Jang Joon-hwan (Save The Green Planet!), Thailand’s Wisit Sasanatieng (Tears Of The Black Tiger) and Japan’s Isao Yukisada (Crying Out Love In The Center Of The World) will each direct a short film segment for the omnibus Busan Project (working title).

Korean production company and distributor Sidus FNH has picked up worldwide rights to the film, with a first-look option for local distribution.

Busan Project will be produced by BALCON, a Busan-based production and distribution company founded and financed by PIFF in 2007.

Sidus FNH-BENEX Cinema Fund I and Busan City will each be investing a third of the total budget of $1.28m (KW1.5bn), and are looking to make up the third tranche from overseas investors.

BALCON president Oh Seok-geun said: “There have been city-based omnibus films before like New York and Paris Je T’aime, but this is the first time in Korea for an omnibus with international directors making shorts set in a certain city. Busan itself is very interested in becoming a cinema hub and this should also highlight the beauty of the city.”

Yukisada Isao, whose 2001 film Go! previously screened in PIFF said: “I feel like Busan is a second hometown to me. It was here that I learned about filmmaking beyond borders and started dreaming of making films like that. This project should be a realisation of that, and I am honoured to be part of it.”

Yukisada’s short will revolved around a cinematographer and an eligible bachelorette; Jang’s around a former archery athlete who feels compelled to play Cupid, and Wisit’s will be a karaoke musical featuring a Thai agent sent to kill someone in Busan, but who ends up falling in love.

The films will be shot this winter, aiming for a premiere in Cannes or Venice. The casts and crews will be pan-Asian, with post-production to be done at the recently opened AZWorks facilities in Busan.