SEOUL — An Iranian
film about a disabled father who looks after his paralyzed son will open Asia’s
biggest film festival next month, organizers said Wednesday as the event
returns to “fully normal” for the first time since the pandemic started.
اضافة اعلان
The
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will
run from October 5–14 and feature 243 movies from 71 countries, including 89
that will have their world premiere.
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was
reduced to a fraction of its usual scale in 2020 while last year’s edition took
place with social distancing measures.
But next month, the annual event in the South Korean
port city will be “fully normalized for the first time in three years since
COVID-19,” festival director Huh Moon-young told reporters.
“We feel fortunate to be able to play the role of
Asia’s best film festival again.”
The upcoming edition will open with Iranian
filmmaker Hadi Mohaghegh’s “Scent of Wind”, which tells the story of a father
and a son — both of whom have disabilities — living in a remote village.
Mohaghegh’s film
is “very small and quiet, but it’s really a great movie that has a tremendous
amount of resonance and emotion that cannot be compared to its size,” Huh said.
Japanese director Kei Ishikawa’s drama “A Man”,
about a widow who discovers unexpected truths about her late husband, will
close the edition.
The film is “elegant and calm”, festival director
Huh said, while offering a memorable exploration of identity and belonging.
Honoring Tony Leung
This year’s festival will
honor Hong Kong’s acclaimed actor Tony Leung, having selected him as the
recipient of its “Asian Cineaste of the Year” prize.
It will screen six films featuring Leung, who will
visit Busan to receive the award and meet with the viewers.
Leung, 60, who is best known for his collaborations
with famed director Wong Kar Wai, picked the six films himself -- which include
Wong’s “In the Mood for Love” (2000) and “Happy Together” (1997).
Other anticipated screenings include Korean-Canadian
director Anthony Shim’s “Riceboy Sleeps,” which tells the story of a Korean
immigrant single mother, said festival’s programmer Nam Dong-chul.
The film is garnering comparisons to “Minari”, Nam
said — a 2020 drama about South Korean
immigrants in the United States, which received rave reviews and a slew of
awards, including the best-supporting actress Oscar.
A documentary film about late BIFF chief programmer
Kim Ji-seok — who died in 2017 while attending the Cannes festival — will also
get a world premiere during the upcoming festival, Nam said.
One of the most respected film programmers in the South, Kim
founded BIFF with two others in 1996 and is largely credited as one of the most
critical guiding forces behind its success.
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