4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
BIFF unveils Asian cinema retrospective for 30th edition
Festival launches third edition of Asian Cinema 100 survey program
The Busan International Film Festival announced Friday its special program "Defining Moments of Asian Cinema," featuring retrospective screenings and talks with major Asian filmmakers for its 30th anniversary edition.
The program marks the third iteration of the festival's Asian Cinema 100 initiative, first launched in 2015. It follows previous editions surveying the best Asian films (2015) and best Asian films by female directors (2021).
Festival organizers selected 119 titles through a survey of 161 film professionals from 34 countries. Ten films from the list will screen during the festival, which runs Sept.17-26 in venues throughout Busan.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who won this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes for "It Was Just an Accident," will attend with his film "This Is Not a Film" (2011). The documentary was secretly filmed while Panahi was under house arrest and banned from filmmaking by Iranian authorities. It captures his frustration as an artist unable to create.
BIFF named Panahi its Asian Filmmaker of the Year in July. He is the first Asian director to win top prizes at all three major European festivals — Cannes, Venice and Berlin.
Fellow Iranian filmmaker Marziyeh Meshkiny will present "The Day I Became a Woman," which won BIFF's New Currents Award in 2000.
Other participants include Chinese directors Jia Zhang-ke ("Still Life"), Tsai Ming-liang ("Goodbye, Dragon Inn") and Wang Bing ("Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks"). Hong Kong's Johnnie To will present "Election."
Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Drive My Car" will screen alongside "Nobody Knows" by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Actor Yuya Yagira will introduce "Nobody Knows," for which he won Best Actor at Cannes.
Korean cinema will be represented by Park Chan-wook's "Oldboy" and Lee Chang-dong's "Burning."
The retrospective comes as BIFF introduces its first competitive section after 29 years as a non-competitive event. The new competition focuses exclusively on Asian films, reinforcing the festival's commitment to regional cinema. The festival will present approximately 240 films, up from 224 last year.
A commemorative publication featuring all 119 selected films and critical essays will accompany the program, according to organizers.
