[ad_1]
BUSAN (AFP) – Asia’s largest annual film festival kicked off in South Korea on 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.
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) typically sees a host of stars and industry players from Asia and elsewhere descend on the port city for 10 days of critical consideration and financial negotiation.
But the strict conditions imposed this year due to the pandemic mean there will be no opening ceremony, no red carpet shows, after-parties or outdoor fan events.
However, the fact that it takes place is an advantage, as many international festivals have been published online only and some, like Cannes, have been canceled entirely.
This year marks the festival’s 25th anniversary and comes after local director Bong Joon-ho’s historic win at an Oscar for black comedy “Parasite” in February, the first time a foreign-language film has won top accolades. .
Around 190 films will be screened at this year’s festival and only once each, compared to the typical 300 films that are screened multiple times, an 80 percent reduction in total screenings.
Attendees will need to wear masks, while social distancing will be reinforced by making only a quarter of the theater seats available.
“We are doing everything we can to offer the most essential while following the Covid-19 security measures,” BIFF program director Nam Dong-chul told AFP.
“We believe that the most important thing about film festivals is showing films in theaters, since cinema is an art form that requires large screens.”
The organizers have scheduled some 45 public screening talks, also much less than normal, but with 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.
“I have attended several online movie talks since Covid and I have to say they are just appalling,” said filmmaker Kim So-young, a professor who hasn’t missed a BIFF issue in 10 years.
“You can’t connect with your viewers like you do in theaters, especially after the lights come back on after a screening,” he told AFP.
“There is a very special feeling that comes from knowing that you are with people who have just finished watching your movie.”
Among this year’s 70 world premieres is the inaugural film “Septet: The Hong Kong Story,” 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 film pays homage to Hong Kong’s golden age of cinema, from the 1960s to the 1990s.
The territory was once the regional film powerhouse, producing up to 200 Cantonese films a year that were devoured by moviegoers from Asia and beyond.
But since then, the city’s movie studios have been in decline, overshadowed by more flashy and wealthy rivals in mainland China and South Korea.
“It was an era of ‘a hundred blooming flowers’, the free expression of art, which nurtured numerous film talents,” said production company Media Asia Film Hong Kong in a statement.
Most of the BIFF components, including judges, press conferences, film and project markets, and discussion forums, will continue to take place during the festival, but online.
“It will definitely be a different festival this year,” Jason Bechervaise, a professor at Korea Soongsil Cyber University, told AFP.
“If we weren’t in this situation, the festival would certainly have a celebratory atmosphere given the success of Parasite and the aftercare that the Korean film industry has received.”
SIGN UP TO THE DAILY NEWSLETTER
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
