Ex-director of Busan film fest convicted of fraud
ASouth Korean court yesterday convicted the former director of Asia’s top film festival of accounting fraud, in what critics have called a politically-motivated case that has damaged the event’s artistic independence. Lee Yong-Kwan, who headed the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) until February this year, was given a suspended jail sentence for making fraudulent payments amounting to 27.5 million won ($24,200) to a firm that brokers sponsorship deals.
Three other current and former BIFF officials indicted on similar charges also received suspended jail terms. The case was brought against Lee earlier this year as the prestigious annual festival was embroiled in a bitter row with state authorities over alleged political interference. The dispute began in 2014 when the BIFF screened a controversial documentary about the Sewol ferry disaster, despite angry opposition by the mayor of the host city Busan.
The film, “Diving Bell,” criticized Seoul’s botched rescue effort during the tragedy that killed more than 300 people, mostly school children. After it was shown, state funding for the 2015 BIFF was nearly halved and Lee, who was instrumental in getting the documentary screened, became the target of a series of probes by authorities. Lee was forced to step down as BIFF director in February after the Busan mayor-then the chairman of the festival organizing committee-refused to renew his contract.
According to the Yonhap news agency, Lee said he would appeal yesterday’s verdict, which an umbrella group of South Korean filmmakers criticized as unfair. “We had expected the court to exonerate Lee given that the charges against him were evidently a political crackdown to tame the festival,” the group said in a joint statement. “We will work together to restore Lee’s reputation that has been hurt ... in this political revenge.” The court case against Lee prompted hundreds of local directors, actors and producers to stage street rallies in protest and boycott this year’s festival. — AFP
Awell-regarded San Francisco filmmaker and community activist arrested in connection with a fatal shooting won’t immediately face criminal charges, prosecutors said. The district attorney’s office found insufficient evidence to immediately press charges against Kevin Epps, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday. Epps, 48, won acclaim for gritty movies about the violence and poverty plaguing city communities. He is best known for his 2001 film “Straight Outta Hunters Point,” which explored the devastation of the neighborhood where he was raised. He followed it with “Straight Outta Hunters Point 2” in 2014.
Epps was arrested Monday afternoon, shortly after a man was found shot dead in his house in the Glen Park neighborhood. Epps was booked on suspicion of murder and being a felon in possession of a gun. Police didn’t discuss a possible motive for the shooting at the time. Epps declined to be interviewed after speaking with an attorney from the San Francisco public defender’s office, the Chronicle reported. Friends and family identified the dead man as Marcus Polk, 45, and indicated the two men knew each other, the Chronicle said.
Polk was a registered sex offender with a history of drug abuse and prior convictions for attempted robbery and domestic battery. Epps’ arrest had shocked acquaintances. “This is one of the last things I would expect to hear,” Stanley Cox Jr., an Oakland rapper known as Mistah F.A.B. who appeared in the filmmaker’s 2006 documentary, “Rap Dreams.” “He’s one of those guys that you idolize,” Cox, 34, told the Chronicle. “He became my big brother and mentor because of the work he did in the community.” — AP