The Pusan International Film Festivalwill present a record 307 films to celebrate its tenth edition, which runs fromOctober 6-14 in South Korea.

Notable world premieres include Loft byJapanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Love Talk by Korea's Lee Yoon-ki (whowon PIFF's top award last year with This Charming Girl), Iraniandirector Abolfazl Jalili's Full Or Empty, and comedy Hold Up Downby Japanese director Sabu.

Opening the event will be the 135 min. "finalversion" of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Three Times, whichdiffers from the 120 min. version screened at Cannes and a 139 min. version atToronto. Hou will also be in town tooversee the Asian Film Academy, a series of lectures and workshops modeledafter the Berlinale's Talent Campus.

Meanwhile Korean drama Wedding Campaign, abouttwo rural men who travel to Uzbekistan in search of brides, will provide alight-hearted close to the festival, in keeping with organisers' wishes to makethe closing ceremony a more public-friendly event.

PIFF's lone competition section New Currents, open tofirst and second-time Asian directors, will feature seven world premieres andeleven titles in all. The section'sjury is headed by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami and includes director EricKhoo from Singapore, director Mika Kaurismaki from Finland, Korean actress LeeHye-young and Cannes Head of Films Christian Jeune.

Peter Greenaway and cult director Suzuki Seijun willbe honoured in a handprinting ceremony, with several of Greenaway's filmsincluded in a Spotlight On British Cinema.Other special sections include a 30-film section highlighting classicsof Asian cinema and a collection of new works by directors formerly awarded atPIFF.

This year's PIFF will also boast a larger than usualnumber of new Korean films, including recent megahit Welcome To Dongmakgol anda collection of independent and low-budget works including Yoon Jong-bin'shighly regarded The Unforgiven.

New Currents Competition, PIFF 2005
Big River (Jap), Atsushi Funahashi *
Grain In Ear (China-S Korea), Zhang Lu
One Summer With You (HK-China), Xie Dong *
The Peter Pan Formula (S Korea), Jo Chang-ho *
Poet Of The Wastes (Iran-Jap), Mohammad Ahmadi *
Reaching Silence (India-France), Jahar Kanungo
The Shoe Fairy (Taiwan-HK), Lee Yun Chan *
The Silent Holy Stone (China), Wanma Caidan
Sunday Seoul (S Korea), Park Sung-hoon *
The Unforgiven (S Korea), Yoon Jong-bin *
Writing On The Earth (Iran), Ali Mohammad Ghasemi
* world premiere