Bollywood adds flavor to Busan film festival
Print Edition
STARS from Asia and beyond gathered in South Korea’s second-largest city yesterday for a Bollywood-flavored launch of the 20th Busan International Film Festival.
The event styles itself as the most influential of its kind in a region enjoying stellar growth in box office receipts and increasing clout in the global movie market.
The BIFF’s founding mission was to celebrate the global reach of cinema and champion the cause of the industry in Asia, and the opening ceremony at the Busan Cinema Center was aimed at reflecting its success in reaching those goals.
The main feature was the world premiere of debut Indian director Mozez Singh’s “Zubaan” — the first time a Bollywood offering has opened the BIFF.
Hosting duties for the opening ceremony were shared between South Korean actor Song Kang-Ho and Afghan actress Marina Golbahari.
Joining them on the red carpet were a pack of Asian cinema heavyweights, including Chinese mainland actress Tang Wei, Masami Nagasawa, from Japan, and Taiwan’s Chang Chen.
Among the international guests are Hollywood veteran Harvey Keitel, British actress Tilda Swinton and France’s Sophie Marceau.
The BIFF has been credited with nurturing the careers of numerous Asian filmmakers and some of them will be on hand for the 20th anniversary event, including Chinese mainland directors Jia Zhangke and Feng Xiaogang, and Taiwan auteur Tsai Ming-Liang.
With the remnants of Typhoon Dujuan hovering overhead, workers had toiled overnight to prepare both the Busan Cinema Center and the city’s Haeundae beach, where many of the festival’s events are being held.
While the BIFF has struggled with funding issues over the past year, Asia’s film industry as a whole is booming.
The combined box office receipts of Asia’s biggest movie markets out-earned North America for the first time last year by US$10.5 billion to US$10.4 billion, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.
Much of that was down to China, where box office takings surged 38 percent from 2013 to US$4.8 billion.
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