BUSAN – Asia’s biggest annual film festival started in South Korea Wednesday at a fraction of its usual scale, but some movie fans will still be able to attend screenings despite the coronavirus forcing many events online.
This year marks the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) 25th anniversary and comes after home-grown director Bong Joon-ho’s historic Oscar win for the dark comedy “Parasite” in February – the first time a foreign-language film has won top accolades.
Around 190 movies will be shown at this year’s festival and only once each, compared to the typical 300-odd films played multiple times – an 80-percent cut in total screenings.
Those attending will have to wear masks, while social distancing will be enforced by making available only a quarter of theatre seats.
Organizers have scheduled some 45 public screening talks – also far fewer than normal – but featuring only South Korean filmmakers and actors.
South Korea imposes a strict two-week quarantine on most arrivals, making short visits impractical, so organizers have not invited foreigners – although some will participate online.
The compromise has left some people dismayed.
Among 70 world premieres this year, the opening film “Septet: The Story of Hong Kong,” a multi-director anthology that pays tribute to the territory from the 1950s to the present.
Directed by Tsui Hark, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Johnnie To, Yuen Wo Ping, Ringo Lam and Sammo Hung, the movie honors the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, from the 1960s to the 1990s.
The territory was once the regional cinematic powerhouse, producing as many as 200 Cantonese-language films a year that were devoured by cinema-goers across Asia and beyond.
But since then, the city’s movie studios have gone into decline, eclipsed by flashier and wealthier rivals in mainland China and South Korea.
“It was an era of ‘one hundred flowers blooming’ – the free expression of art – that nurtured numerous movie talents,” production company Media Asia Film Hong Kong said in a statement.
Most BIFF components – including judging, press conferences, film and project markets and discussion forums – will still be held during the festival, but online. (AFP)
