Movie on defector from NK to open BIFF

A FILM about the plight of a defector who abandons her family in North Korea will open Asia’s biggest film festival next month, organisers said on Tuesday as they look to end years of turmoil surrounding the event.

The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will run from October 4-13 and feature 323 movies from 79 countries, including 115 which will have their world premiere.

This year’s festival will open with South Korean filmmaker Jero Yun’s Beautiful Days, which tells the story of a woman who abandons her husband and young son to flee North Korea for a better life but later reconnects with them.

“The unique story line of the restoration of a family through initial dissolution was appealing and the subject of a North Korean defector was also very timely,” said festival director Jay Jeon.

The Busan International Film Festival, launched in 1996, has grown into the largest of its kind in Asia with a focus on discovering new movies and up-and-coming directors from across the region.

But the annual event was hit by a bitter row with the municipal government of the host city Busan over the 2014 screening of a controversial documentary about the Sewol ferry disaster.

The film criticised the government’s handling of the sinking in April 2014 that killed more than 300 people, mostly schoolchildren. Since then the organising committee has faced a flurry of official investigations and suffered an unprecedented cut in state funding.

Martial arts drama, Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy, by Hong Kong’s Yuen Woo-ping will close the festival.

Cinematic thaw

While the guest list has yet to be fully disclosed, organisers said American producer Jason Blum is among the high-profile visitors who have confirmed their attendence.

In July South Korea approved a rare screening of North Korean movies at a film festival, as a diplomatic thaw gained pace following two landmark summits between their leaders.

Officials allowed three North Korean feature films and six short movies to be screened at the annual Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival on Seoul’s outskirts from July 12, organisers said.

The North’s films included the 2016 drama hit The Story of Our Home, about three orphaned siblings trying to stay together, and Comrade Kim Goes Flying, a 2012 romantic comedy about a miner pursuing her dream of becoming an acrobat.

The latter – a joint production between Britain, Belgium and the North – was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival Film Festival to positive reviews.