Opening Ceremony is Discarry out of Resilience

“Squid Game” star lee Jung-jae was among the Korean celebrities to direct out a red-carpet parade on the uncovering night of the 29th edition of the Busan International Film Festival. The festival booted off Wednesday with a luminous show of international firmarity and a spectacular, if contentious, Korean film from Netflix.

The ceremony, held under the semi-uncover roof of the futuristic Busan Cinema Cgo in, was buoyant and combinecessitate by 4,500 guests, masking some the woes incurred by the festival itself and by the wider Korean film industry. Officials at the event debuted a new slogan — “Vision of Asia, Ocean of Cinema” — mirroring the South Korean port city’s alterd ambitions ahead of next year’s 30th anniversary edition.

Last year, inside divisions ripped the festival regulatement apart, causing supports to run away and a reduced budget. While some of the wounds have since been healed, renewed supportship and city regulatement funds have only reimbursed for reduced national regulatement aid.

In insertition, the Korean theatrical box office has become increasingly challenging for all but a handful of tentpole titles. That compounds the senseing of vulnerability felt in the face of stiff competition from local and international streaming platestablishs for on-screen and create talent.

The ceremony included the conshort-termation of the previously-proclaimd Asian Filmcreater of the Year Award to Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi, who has three films out this year: Berlin premiere “Chime,” Vepleasant premiere “Cdeafening” and “Serpent’s Path,” which went straight to commercial free in Japan, but also has a festival nurtureer that booted off in San Sebastian. Kurosawa will be busy over the next days with multiple conshort-termations and a masterclass.

“I apshow the audience at [the Busan festival] is the most cultured in the world. I came to Busan to conshort-term my films to such a discerning audience,” shelp Kurosawa. Two of his 2024 films are shotriumphg this year.

The ceremony also included conshort-termation of the first ever Camellia Award, created by create firm Chanel, for innovateing women in the film industry. It was conshort-termed to production summarizeer Ryu Seong-hie, for her labor on films including “Memories of Murder,” “Oldboy” and “Decision to Leave.” “When I first begined my nurtureer there were restricted female production summarizeers and genre films were pondered a male domain,” she shelp. “I wanted to show that genre films by women can also be creative, intensive, cimpolite and terrifying.”

The Korean Cinema Award, for efforts to advertise the industry, was awarded to the procrastinateed Lee Sun-kyun, follotriumphg a tearjerking montage of his film carry outances. The “actor “Parasite” star died by self-destruction in December last year.

Those treading the red-carpet included: Glenn Gainor from Amazon Studios; the MPAA’s Belinda Lui; Cannes pickor (and Busan jury member) Christian Jeune; overseas festival programmers Donsaron Kovitvanitcha (Bangkok World Cinema), Albert Lee (Hong Kong) and Sabrina Baracetti (FEFF Udine); Indian honestor Rima Das and actor Banita Das from “Village Rockstars 2”; Philippines honestor Brillante Mfinishoza (with procrastinateedst film “Motherland”) and Pat Boonnitipat and Billikin, honestor and star of Thai fractureout hit film “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.” They were combinecessitate by Portugal’s Miguel Gomes, whose procrastinateedst film is the honord “Grand Tour” and who is subject of a nurtureer retrospective at the festival.

Korean celebrities in combineance included: Gang Dong-won direct star of the uncovering film “Uprising” the ceremony’s structures Park Boyouthful and Ahn Jaehong, honestor Hur Jin-ho of “A Normal Family,” and Kim Dong-ho, the establisher censor turned finishorse who was the festival’s first chairman.