Busan Welcomes Annual Celebration of Film
The
Busan International Film Festival launched its 21st edition on Thursday, October 6th in the open air auditorium of the Busan Cinema Center in Busan’s Centum neighborhood. The ceremony was hosted by stars
HAN Hyo-joo and
SUL Kyung-gu, co-stars of the 2013 thriller
Cold Eyes, and was followed by a screening of this year’s opening film
A Quiet Dream, the latest work by arthouse filmmaker
ZHANG Lu. The event took place in the wake of Typhoon Chaba, which hit the seaside town the day before.
Though several notable figures chose not to attend the ceremony, the red carpet nevertheless welcomed many Korean film industry personnel, including director
KIM Ki-duk, who is presenting his latest film
THE NET,
The Priests actress
PARK So-dam,
Friend (2001) director
KWAK Kyung-taek, veteran actor
AHN Sung-ki and Korea’s venerated director
IM Kwon-taek. Foreign stars included Japanese actor WATANABE Ken and director LEE Sang-il for their film
Anger and Singaporean filmmaker Eric KHOO. Also in attendance were festival director
KANG Soo-yeon and BIFF chairman
KIM Dong-ho.
The ceremony included a percussion performance by Korean musician KIM Duk-soo and the conferral of several prizes. This year’s Korean Cinema Award went to Laurence Herszberg, the general director of France’s Forum des Images, for her efforts to promote global awareness of Korean films. The Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award, which was awarded to the late filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, was accepted by his son Ahmad Kiarostami.