Busan Film Festival To Open With ‘Because I Hate Korea’; Chow Yun-Fat Named As Asian Filmmaker Of The Year

Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, October 4-13) has unveiled its full line-up, including opening and closing films, and announced that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat has been named as Asian Filmmaker of the Year.

Chow will be feted through the screening of two of his most iconic films – Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow – as well as recent release Once More Chance, directed by Anthony Pun.

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In addition to Chow, international guests expected at the festival include Luc Besson, Japanese filmmakers Hirokazu Kore-eda and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Korean-American filmmakers Lee Isaac Chung and Justin Chon, and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.

The festival will open with the world premiere of Jang Kun-jae’s Because I Hate Korea, adapted from the popular novel by Chang Kang-myoung, and close with Chinese filmmaker Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, starring Andy Lau, which is receiving its world premiere in Toronto.

Gala screenings include Kore-eda’s Monster, Han Shuai’s Green Night, starring Fan, and Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast.

As previously announced, the festival has a Special Program focusing on Indonesian cinema and also has a section of Korean Diaspora cinema, screening titles including Chung’s Minari, Chon’s Jamojaya and Celine Song’s Past Lives.

BIFF’s Icons section will screen 30 titles from established filmmakers from the recent festival circuit, including Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall, Hamaguchi’s Venice title Evil Does Not Exist, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and Tran Anh Hung’s The Pot-Au-Feu.

Korean Cinema Today includes the world premieres of two Netflix titles: Lee Chung-hyun’s Ballerina and Baik’s Believer 2. World premieres in A Window On Asian Cinema include Shunji Iwai’s Kyrie, Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s Morrison, Ismael Basbeth’s Sara and Ten Years Myanmar, an omnibus film from a group of filmmakers in a country that is currently under a military dictatorship.

On Screen is premiering Indonesian series Cigarette Girl and five Korean dramas, including I Am A Running Mate, the directorial debut of Han jin-wo, who won a best screenplay Oscar for Parasite.

Other sections include World Cinema, Midnight Passion, the Flash Forward competition for European films, the Wide Angle short films and documentary section, and Open Cinema, which will screen five films including Besson’s Dogman and Rocky And Rani’s Love Story, a recent hit in India directed by Karan Johar.

A Special Screening section will remember late actress Yun Jung-hee (Mist, Poetry) and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Korean actor Song Kang-ho has been appointed as ‘Host Of BIFF 2023’.

Announcing the line-up, acting BIFF director Nam Dong-chul said the festival had put aside its recent internal management struggles and is now focused on delivering one of its strongest ever editions.

“The difficult times are not behind us, but hard work has made this year’s festival better than ever,” he said in an online press conference. However, he added that the turmoil had scared away some sponsors and the festival had been forced to reduce its budget to around KRW10BN (US$7.6BN).

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