Busan film fest kicks off with focus on Asia

A Hong Kong crime thriller about a battle between police and gangsters will open the international film festival in the South Korean port city of Busan Thursday under the festival's new plan to focus on Asian diversity.

Founded in 1996, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has grown into one of Asia's largest film festivals.

It was an unspoken rule that BIFF usually kick-starts its 10-day event with a Korean film. But this year, event organizers changed things up and chose instead the Hong Kong film, "Cold War."

Directed by first-timers Sunny Luk and Longman Leung, the movie revolves around two high-ranking police rivals who are constantly in a feud with each other and face obstacles as they try to resolve the kidnapping of five cops in Hong Kong.

The movie features some big-name Chinese stars such as Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Andy Lau.

"Television," a family-focused movie directed by Mostafa Farooki from Bangladesh, will close the festival in line with the new plan to put more importance on Asian films, organizers said.

The flick touches in a humorous and sharp manner on diverse issues such as religious views, the generation gap, tradition and modernization, and family love, they added.

The Oct. 4-13 festival features 304 films, including 93 world premiers, from 75 countries.

Among the highlights in the lineup are "Comrade Kim Goes Flying," a romantic comedy filmed in North Korea, and six classic Afghan movies saved from the Taliban by the Afghanistan National Film Archive.

Much media attention has been paid on whether the North Korean director and cast of "Comrade Kim Goes Flying," a co-production of North Korea, Belgium and Britain, will be among the guests at the event.

But the festival organizers said last week that they failed to invite the North Koreans, without providing a reason.

Also in a departure from previous events that featured many prominent Western stars, overseas guests to this year's festival will mostly be Asian directors and stars. They include Chinese actresses Tang Wei and Zhang Ziyi, Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Kase Ryo, an actor from the same country, event organizers said.

Tang, best known for her appearance in "Lust, Caution" by renowned Taiwanese-born American film director Ang Lee, was chosen to be the first non-Korean host of the festival's opening ceremony.

Among the renowned Western actresses coming to the festival are Victoria Abril of Spain, Agnes Jaoui of France, Teresa Palmer of Australia, Amanda Plummer of the U.S. and Alba Rohrwacher of Italy.

This year's Asian Filmmaker of the Year award will go to the veteran Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu for his contribution to the advancement of Asian cinema and culture, organizers said.

BIFF will offer retrospective screenings of three films directed by the 72-year-old Wakamatsu -- "Mishima," "The Millennial Rapture" and "Petrel Hotel Blue," they added. (Yonhap News)