Film festivals galore

A number of film festivals with themes as diverse as animation and elderly life are taking place in the coming weeks, starting with the Bucheon International Animation Festival, one of Asia’s key animation events.

The 19th BIAF, which runs through Tuesday, opened with the Asian premiere of French director Benjamin Renner’s “Ernest & Celestine.” 

The international competition section will see seven films including Sunao Katabuchi’s “In This Corner of the World” and Bill Plympton’s “Revengeance.”

Prominent Disney directors Burny Mattinson and Eric Goldberg held a master class on Disney’s animation Saturday, discussing storytelling and creating character backstories.

“I think if you bring change to your work, it will move in a positive direction,” said Mattinson, who has written stories for “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” at the Korea Manhwa Museum in Bucheon. “I believe the reason for Disney’s popularity lies in its traditional method of constantly revising its work.”

In July, BIAF submitted an application to become an Oscar-qualified international film festival, the results of which are to be announced in November.

Meanwhile, the venue of the BIAF opening ceremony was changed last minute after police received phone calls about a bomb being placed at the Korean Manwha Museum. The area was checked for explosives and the authorities concluded that the calls were a hoax.

The ceremony was moved to Ghana Best Town, a restaurant near Sang-dong Station.

The festival is running until Tuesday at Bucheon City Hall, CGV Bucheon, Korea Manhwa Museum and Megabox Coex.

Seoul Pride Film Festival

Centering on conversations on LGBT rights and their lives, the Seoul Pride Film Festival will run from Nov. 2-8 at CGV Myeongdong Cine Library.

Some 70 films will be screened at the noncompetition festival this year.

“It is the largest queer film festival in Korea,” executive director Kim Jho Gwang-soo, a filmmaker, told reporters at a press conference Thursday at the Art Nine theater.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 that decriminalized homosexuality in the UK, the festival this year is collaborating with the British Council.

The opening film will be “120 Beats per Minute,” by French director Robin Campillo. The film, about an AIDS patient who petitions the government and pharmaceutical companies for medication, won the Cannes Grand Prix last year. 

Closing the festival are three shorts: “Shuttle Run” by Lee Eun-kyung and Lee Hee-sun, “Two Nights” by Kim Chang-beom and “Freebird” by Hong Yoo-jung.

Seoul Senior Film Festival

The 10th Seoul Senior Film Festival will be taking place from Wednesday to Saturday at Seoul City Hall, CGV Piccadilly, Daehan Cinema, Seoul Cinema and Seoul Museum of History.

The festival aims to promote understanding between different generations.

Some 196 shorts have been submitted for competition. The festival has two competition sections -- one for films made by directors over 60 years old and another for films made by directors younger than 60 with a focus on senior lives.

The opening film is “Hong Gil-dong,” a 1967 animation film by Shin Dong-hun.

Ten international films will also be screened including “I’m Not From Here” by Maite Alberdi and Giedre Zickyte, about an 80-year-old Basque woman living in an elderly residence in Santiago, Chile.
 

Seniors can reserve tickets by phone at (02) 6220-8692. Tickets are also available on site at the participating cinemas.

Korean films abroad

Film festivals spotlighting Korean films are taking place in Europe. The 12th Korean Film Festival in Paris runs from Tuesday to Oct. 31, while the second London East Asia Film Festival is taking place through Sunday.

A number of recent Korean films are to screen in Paris, including historical dramas “The Fortress” and “The Battleship Island” and the heartfelt story of a former comfort woman, “I Can Speak.” The film will open with “A Taxi Driver” by Jang Hoon and close with “The Mimic” by Huh Jung.

Director Hong Sang-soo’s “Claire’s Camera,” starring French actress Isabelle Huppert, will also be screened.

A total of 57 Korean films including documentaries and shorts will screen at the festival, taking place at the Publicis Cinemas on the Champs Elysees.

The London festival, funded by the British Film Institute, is screening a number of Korean films at multiplex theaters, including the Odeon Leicester Square, Empire Haymarket and Picturehouse Central.

Films including “The Fortress” by director Hwang Dong-hyuk, this year’s opening film, “V.I.P” by Park Hoon-jung, and “Anarchist from Colony” by Lee Joon-ik have been invited.
 

The festival is screening 50 films from Asia, of which 18 are Korean.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)