The 31st Busan International Film Festival opened in glamourous style on Tuesday (October 6) with appearances from Michelle Yeoh, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Fan Bingbing alongside filmmakers Hirokazu Koreeda, Alfonso Cuarón, Na Hong-jin and Lee Chang-dong.
The red-carpet ceremony under the illuminated roof of the Busan Cinema Center in South Korean port city kicks off 10 days of screenings from October 6-15, during which 247 titles from 59 countries will be shown – its biggest selection since 2019.
This year’s honorary Asian Filmmaker of the Year award was presented to Malaysia-born actress Michelle Yeoh for exceptional contributions to the advancement of Asian cinema.
Taking to the stage to accept the award amidst loud applause, the Oscar-winning star said: “This is an honour that celebrates a life in Asian cinema, and the way our stories can travel across cultures and borders is deeply meaningful to me. I’m immensely grateful for the people I have met along the way, for the films that have changed me, and for all the unexpected places cinema has taken me. And after so many years, it is very special to find my way back to Busan.”
Yeoh returns to BIFF for the first time since presenting The Lady in 2011 and will this year introduce her latest feature, Bai Xue’s It’s My Time, marking her first Chinese-language film in almost a decade. She has also handpicked three of her films to present in a special programme: Reign Of Assassins, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Sean Baker’s recent short Sandiwara.
Congratulating the festival, Yeoh said: “What began as a celebration of Asian filmmaking has grown into a truly global gathering, one that gives Asian cinema a powerful voice on the world stage and beautifully bridges East and West.”
The ceremony was hosted by Kim Minha, the star of Apple TV series Pachinko and BIFF opening film The Table: Day And Night.
Those who walked the red carpet included Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who stars in Wayne Wang’s Diary Of A Mad Old Man, and Japanese directors Koji Fukada and Koreeda, who will show Nagi Notes and Look Back at the festival respectively.
Also in attendance was French actor and musician Gainsbourg, making her first visit to South Korea and set to give a masterclass talk following a screening of Lars von Trier’s Melancholia; and Cuarón in attendance with his son, director Jonas Cuarón, who will also present a masterclass talk together.
Korean director Na and actors Hwang Jung-min and Zo In-sung walked the carpet representing their blockbuster Hope while Zo returned again with director Lee Chang-dong and fellow castmates Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu and Cho Yeo-jeong from their awards contender Possible Love.
Honorary awards
The festival’s Camellia Award, created with fashion house Chanel, was presented to prolific Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui. The award is presented to a filmmaker whose work has uplifted women in the film industry.
A pioneer of the Hong Kong New Wave, more than a dozen of Hui’s features have been selected to play at BIFF over the past 30 years including Elegies, A Simple Life, The Golden Era and Our Time Will Come. Her period drama Eighteen Springs was chosen as the closing film for BIFF’s second edition in 1997 and she received the festival’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award in 2014.
Accepting the honour, Hui said: “Before, I felt unwilling to receive achievement prizes because I wanted to make more films. Now that I’m nearly 80, I find filmmaking very difficult, so the prize comes just in time for me to appreciate it more. Also, I’m also very proud of being able to come up on stage by myself to get the prize. I’m also happy to receive the prize in Busan.”
The Korean Cinema Award, which goes to figures who has helped shape Korean cinema and raise its international profile, was awarded to BIFF founding festival director Kim Dong-ho.
In a video that celebrated his accomplishments, congratulatory messages were sent by Black Money director Chung Jiyoung who said: “Traveling abroad so often at his age is no easy feat. I envy him! I hope I can still make films at his age.” Possible Love star Zo In-sung added: “I’m part of the generation that is privileged to enjoy the fruits of Mr Kim’s hard work.”
Kim, who began his career at the Ministry of Culture and Information and went on to serve as president of the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation (now the Korean Film Council), guided this festival through its launch in 1996 until 2010.
Veteran filmmaker and academic Park Kwang-su, who serves as BIFF chairperson, thanked Kim for “single-handedly” securing the budget for BIFF’s very first edition.
In his acceptance speech, Kim said: “I am here today thanks to the support of Busan citizens and filmmakers from home and abroad. I have travelled overseas more than 10 times this year to promote Korean cinema and plan to continue such efforts.”
Since retiring from festival leadership, Kim has sat as jury president or jury member at major festivals, including the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. His feature directorial debut, Mr. Kim Goes To The Cinema, was selected for a special screening at BIFF last year.
The opening ceremony was completed by the arrival of the seven-member Competition jury on stage, led by Chinese director Zhang Yimou with Korean actress Choi Hee-seo, Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan, Kazak actor Samal Yeslyamova, Japanese filmmaker Kei Ishikawa, Korean director July Jung and Vietnamese producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc.
Yimou shared a new update on the script for his upcoming adaptation of Liu Cixin’s sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem, explaining that they are still polishing the script after reading “400,000 comments” on the project online.
The 31st BIFF will run from October 6-15.
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