We present the second part of the 50 Films you cannot miss at the 21th Busan International Film Festival that is taking place from October 6th – 15th in Busan, South Korea.
Ma’ Rosa by Brillante Mendoza – Philippines | 2016 – 110 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
In a slummy area where people can’t finish a sentence without swearing, Rosa is the de facto the head of the household, taking care of her husband Nesto and four children. She runs a small grocery store selling things bought at bigger mart, but it is not easy to earn a living in a backstreet area where credit is common. To make some extra cash, she secretly sells drugs. One day before her husband’s birthday, they are raided by police and arrested. The children left behind have no other option other than selling anything they can to make the “bail” the corrupt police demand.
Brillante Mendoza has directed a film nearly every year since his debut in 2005. This film also delivers a story about people struggling for survival in a self-composed but sincere way. A world without hope and full of despair is realistically depicted by the outstanding actors and the documentary style camerawork. Through the protanogists are not so easily defeated, we may ruminate on what sustains our lives. Jaclyn Jose was awarded Best Actress at Cannes in 2016. (PARK Sungho BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.13.2016 – CGV Centum City 5 – 17:00 pm
Museum by Otomo Keishi – Japan | 2016 – 132 min.
Section | Midnight Passion
A body mauled to death by dogs is found and other heinous murders follow. Mysterious notes are left at the crime scenes, hinting the killings were done to punish each victim and the bodies presented in a way as though to be found. The killer only appears on rainy days and is witnessed wearing a frog mask. Police detective Sawamura is on the case and to his surprise; he finds out the next target of the Frogman could be his beloved wife and child who had left him 2 weeks ago. As the investigation progresses, Sawamura learns that the Frogman stages the murders like works of art, calling himself an artist. Sawamura tries to corner Frogman from the clues, but is devastated to find that all was a trap. Will Sawamura survive the deadly scheme of Frogman and save his family? (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.14.2016 – Busan Cinema Center Haneulyeon Theatre – 23:59 pm
Over The Fence by Yamashita Nobuhiro – Japan | 2016 – 112 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
Odagiri Joe and Aoi Yu star in this film as lonely adults with unspeakable stories of on another. The director Yamashita Nobuhiro, who has often focused on the lives of Japanese youth’s in such films as Linda Linda Linda, My Back Page, and Tamako in Moratorium, has emerged as one of Japan’s most promising young filmmakers.
Shiraiwa is a lonesome man in his 40s who returns to his hometown after a divorce and decides to attend a vocational school. Satoshi is a cheerful but eccentric woman who works at a theme park in the daytime and at a bar as a hostess at night. Both of them represent lonely people who have a hard time surviving in the world. Their monotonous lives between home and school or between home and the bar are suddenly disrupted by their painful pasts. A man and a woman, devastated by pressure and stress, serve as portraits of today’s youth. Yamashita’s view of adult life materialized in a television drama series entitled Shinya Shokudo, but takes an obvious and deliberate step forward in this film. (Minah JEONG BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.12.2016 – Megabox Haeundae M – 14:00 pm
10.14.2016 – CGV Centum City Starium – 20:30 pm
Picture of Hell by Park Kiyong – South Korea, Japan | 2016 – 93 min.
Section | Vision – Korean Cinema Today
A female university student walks from the subway station to her tutoring job. There’s a camera that follows her, continuing to film her in one single take. When she arrives at the apartment, however, nobody is home. She calls the mother of the student to complain but the mother insists that she had said the family would be on vacation. After walking all the way to the apartment and sweating under the hot summer sun, the student is speechless. To fill the time before her next part-time job, she takes a walk in a nearby park. But something horrible is waiting for her there. In the film’s second story, the camera follows a young man who seems to have become involved in a bad situation. What is his story?
Picture of Hell was shot in real time and without any cuts except for the title shot that divides the two stories. Such long takes create a tension derived from the character’s emotions and the situations they encounter—an interesting experiment about the unfoldment of time. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.12.2016 – Megabox Haeundae TM – 16:00 pm
10.13.2016 – CGV Centum City Starium – 11:00 am
Rage by Lee Sang-il – Japan | 2016 – 142 min.
Section | Gala Presentation
This film reveals that “truth” to human beings is actually just an “easily shakable belief.” Lee Sang-il’s screen adaptation of Yoshida Shuichi’s original novel features a star-studded cast including Watanabe Ken, Miyazaki Aoi, Tsumabuki Satoshi, Ayano Gou, Matsuyama Kenichi, Hirose Suzu, and Moriyama Mirai, along with an amazing director of photography, Kasamatsu Norimichi, and music director Sakamoto Ryuichi.
One year after a brutal murder case in Tokyo, three different groups of people, namely Aiko and Tashiro in a fishing village in Chiba; Yuma who works for an advertising agency and Naoto who comes to go out with him; and Tanaka who lives alone on a remote island in Okinawa. Those who are closest to Tashiro, Naoto, and Tanaka have suspicions about their past and begin to connect them to Tokyo murder case. These groups of people, regardless of whether their doubt is reasonable or misplaced, prove how vulnerable human confidence is, and how delicate people’s beings are when they are exposed to violence in reality. (KIM Ji-seok BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.15.2016 – Busan Cinema Center Cinema 2 – 13:00 pm
Revelations by Vijay Jayapal – India | 2016 – 118 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
A bedridden tetraplegic mother and her middle-aged son Manohar, who is a street bookseller, move into an apartment. In the same building lives Shobha, a young Tamil woman who settled in Calcutta with her husband and whose marriage is on the rocks. Shobha offers to look after Manohar’s sick mother for him and in sharing their loneliness, they begin to develop more intimate feelings for each other, but Manohar can’t accept these feeling so easily due to his secret past. Shobha’s journalist husband Sekhar falls in love with free-spirited intern Divya while they are reporting on the local Calcutta rock music scene, becoming increasingly obsessed with her despite ulterior motives on her part.
With the complicatedly intertwined love and desires of men and women, Revelations boldly explores marriage culture and women’s sexual desires in contemporary India; it is about Indian women who dream of freedom and are honest about their desires in a climate of rampant oppression. Revelations is also a dedication to Calcutta, a place of beautiful nature with an original and rich culture. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.13.2016 – CGV Centum City 3 – 13:00 pm
Sori Voices from the heart by Lee Ho-jae – South Korea | 2015 – 117 min.
Section | Panorama – Korean Cinema Today
The scene is Daegu in 2003, and Haegwan’s only daughter Yuju goes missing. Haegwan scours the country for his lost daughter for 10 years with no signs or clues as to her whereabouts. When everyone advises him to give up on her, he meets “Sori”, a robot that can remember all the voices in the world. The robot crash-lands in Korea, while drifting in space as a wiretapping satellite, and Haegwan is suddenly filled with new hope that he might find his daughter using this robot.
Although it uses the concept of a wiretapping robot falling into Korea, which would be an appropriate premise for a sci-fi movie, SORI: Voice from the Heart is not a spectacular sci-fi epic. It actually centers on typically Korean family-oriented themes, such as conflict between the conservative father and his rebellious daughter, major and minor hiccups between the robot with its unexpected charm, and the failure of a father’s paternal love. “Should we be grateful for protection?” The robot’s question remains serenely resonant. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Soul on a String by Zhang Yang – China | 2016 – 142 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
Tabei has led a hard life of violence and murder. One day, he sees a deer swallowing a holy relic and decides to kill it in order to take the treasure. However, lightning suddenly strikes and kills him. A living Buddha brings his soul back to the land of the living and tells him to cleanse himself by taking the relic to the Lotus Master’s home, the Palm Print Land on the snow-capped mountain of Kelong. On his way, Tabei meets the beautiful Chung and spends the night with her. They leave on a long journey with a mysterious little boy. Just behind them, two brothers, seeking vengeance for their murdered father, are in close pursuit. When Tabei finally reaches the snow-capped mountain to return the relic, the two brothers catch up to him.
Adapted from the 1987 novel by Tibetan writer Tashi Dawa, Soul on a String is a tale about the life and legend of a Tibetan man and his sins as well as karmic justice and redemption. Set against the backdrop of the beautiful snow-swept Tibetan landscape, the film was directed by Zhang Yang. (KANG Naeyoung BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.13.2016 – Megabox Haeundae 9 – 10:30 am
Suffering of Ninko by Niwatsukino Norihiro – Japan | 2016 – 70 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
Ninko, a young, diligent Buddhist monk, has one serious problem: Women can’t seem to resist him. They pester him so much that he can’t even ask for alms in town. Since sexual indulgence is considered a sin, he blames himself for not being virtuous enough. One day, he runs into a masked woman in the forest who tries to seduce him. Running away from her, his problem only gets worse. Nearly driven mad, he escapes deep into the mountains to be alone. There he finds a corpse in a deserted village, victimized by a specter who seduces the spirits of men. A samurai claims that he can kill the specter, and Ninko follows him, hoping that he’ll rid him of his curse. A fresh independent film in the self-described genre of “historical entertainment.”
Niwatsukino Norihiro first gained attention with his short film Strawberry Jam (2010). Suffering of Ninko, based on an old Japanese folktale and presented in a unique style that mixes live action and animation, is his first feature. With the help of crowd funding and volunteer actors, it took him four years to complete the film. The result is a funny and well-executed film that’s sure to please. (PARK Sungho BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.12.2016 – Megabox haeundae 3 – 14:00 pm
10.12.2016 – Megabox haeundae 4 – 14:00 pm
10.14.2016 – CGV Centum City 7 – 13:30 pm
The Bait by Buddhadeb Dasgupta – India | 2016 – 88 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
Dasgupta Buddhadeb, one of India’s most well-known independent film directors over the last 40 years, displays lyrical and cinematic charms in his most recent work, which reminds us of Fellini’s surrealistic mysticism and Makhmalbaf’s ethnographic illusionism. The Bait adopts a mythical symbolism based on India’s locality and self-reflexive modernist aesthetics. The four groups of people in the film represent India’s magnificent diversity: A poor family living on circus tricks; a village lord, in pursuit of a tiger, lives in the glory of his past and is accompanied by a young and lonely wife who dreams of sex; a documentary film crew trying to capture a tiger hunting prey; and finally a postman who gets tired of his tedious life and climbs up a tree to become friends with monkeys. These stories intersect with one another. Elaborately directed mise-en-scene and plots rich with allegory create a phenomenal film-viewing experience. The contrasts between the poor aspiring to be rich and the rich indulging in weird enterprise, between the young longing for success and the old who tire of the everyday are carefully used as devices to project the complexities of contemporary Indian society. (Minah JEONG BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.14.2016 – Megabox Haeundae 6 – 10:00 am
The City of Mirrors: A Fictional Biography by Truong Minh Quy
Vietnam | 2016 – 87 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
A typical married couple who have spent a long, long together. The wife nitpicks at her husband for drinking too much beer, and he tells her off for gaining weight. Due to a lack of economic affluence, a moneylender visits their home and a contents certificate top sheet is received by post. However, they feel strongly attached to the house they bought after working hard to save money since the time tigers roamed the country before the Tet Offensive. Their only son is grown and lives far away from home. The home city of this family eventually submerged due to climate change caused by human greed’s breakage of Mother Nature. The son talks about the disappearance of things through his consciousness, which roams the present, misses the future and hasn’t yet developed longing feelings for the past.
Truong Ming Quy is a young director whose talent is being recognized for his various short films and documentary films. His first feature length film is a genuine experiment, mixing elements from both documentary and fiction of himself and his own family. Through the study figuring out the role of cinema as a medium to capture time and space, he deals with the value in life, freely moving through the past, present and future as well as virtuality and imagination. (PARK Sungho BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.13.2016 – CGV Centum City 5 – 11:00 am
The Donor by Zang Qiwu – China | 2016 – 105 min.
Section | New Currents
The Donor describes the dark side of modern Chinese society by telling a story where the good will to protect a family brings about tragedy after all. Yang Ba is not able to give financial support to his family and decides to sell a kidney to Li Xhaohui, Li Daguo’s sister. But when Xhaohui’s life is at stake from adverse reaction of the kidney transplant, Daguo demands Yang Ba give him his son’s kidney. Yang Ba refuses this demand and tries to protect his son. Director ZANG Qiwu reveals the social absurdities generated by the gap between rich and poor and talks about moral issues. He casts a question as to whether the good will that can be bought with money is genuine in its nature or not, even though the “father’s love for his son and family” is an unquestionable value. When the results are not satisfactory, it becomes an evil trade that reveals the selfish nature of human beings. This paradoxical situation brings a shocking ending. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.13.2016 – Busan Cinema Center Cinema 1 – 20:00 pm
The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook – South Korea | 2016 – 144 min.
Section | Panorama – Korean Cinema Today
In Korea during the Japanese colonial period, heiress Hideko loses her parents when she is young and lives with her uncle, a con man, as her guardian. He and maid Sukhee start living with her in her mansion hoping to snatch her inheritance. Sukhee is attracted by Hideko’s good looks and Hideko opens herself up to her. Among the deception, they make their best decision.
Based on the British novel, Fingersmith, The Handmaiden has the plot of a heist film. Sukhee is the main focus of the first act, while the second act has Hideko in the central spot, so this film can be viewed differently, depending on who is followed. Ocean’s Eleven and The Big Swindle exploit the charm of twists in this kind of structure. The Handmaiden not only offers the pleasure of a perfect crime and revenge story, but it overturns the sexual fantasies of both men and women: men getting turned on by listening to passages from erotic novels read by women, and men becoming the targets of derision for considering a woman an easily-conquered object. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
The Long Excuse by Nishikawa Miwa – Japan | 2016 – 124 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
The Long Excuse tells the story of a husband left alone by his wife’s sudden death after 20 years of marriage. Sachio is a writer living a celebrity life occasionally aired on TV. In spite of what is publicly shown, he suffers from self-loathing, and doesn’t even like his own name. While his wife takes a weekend trip with her old friend, he is having an affair with a young woman in the marital bed. After his wife and her friend die in an accident, he plays the perfect, grieving husband at the funeral, where he runs into Omiya, the husband of his wife’s friend. Although both of them are in the same situation as new widowers, Sachio tries to keep his distance from Omiya at first. However, he volunteers to support Omiya’s family.
Nishikawa Miwa excels in constructing characters by details of cinematic elements like small acts. The interaction between two men with contrasting personalities serves as great energizer to lead the story. That energy drives the audience to follow the story of the protagonist whom we don’t want to sympathize with but feel like we’ve known. (PARK Sungho BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.14.2016 – CGV Centum City 7 – 16:30 pm
The Net by Kim Ki-duk – South Korea | 2016 – 114 min.
Section | Panorama – Korean Cinema Today
A North Korean fisherman drifts into Southern waters when his boat’s engine fails. The National Intelligence Service proceeds to interrogate him on suspicion of being a spy. Two NIS officers with opposing views take on the case; one officer is convinced of the fisherman’s guilt and uses brutal interrogation techniques close to torture, while the other is sympathetic and treats him humanely. The NIS officers request that he write the entire story of how he got to the South several times, leaving nothing out; the fisherman just wants to go back to the North, but the suspicion doesn’t disappear. Can the fisherman go home?
The Net is another of Kim Ki-duk’s films focusing on the topic of the North/South Korean divide, following his earlier works Wildlife Reservation Zone and The Coast Guard. In his own distinctive style, he confronts issues surrounding the manmade artificial border, the iron fences and the political partition. The Net is a heart-rending account of the reality of forcing people to choose either the North or the South.
The Nights of Zayandeh-rood by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Iran, UK | 1990 – 63 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
When looking at the filmography of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, we’ve been noticing a title Nights of Zayande-rood. Thinking about Makhmalbaf style and the subjects he has usually been interested to depict, we were so curious to know what this film is about? And why it has never been shown?
It remained as a mystery for all of his funs. The film was made in 1990 and then was banned. No one had a chance to watch it ever after… until this year. Finally Nights of Zayande-rood, the mysterious title of Makhmalbaf came out, a 63 min. Film! The strange length could tell us almost 1/3 of the film is gone due to the censorship. Still when we watch the film, we totally understand the impressing story.
The director may expect different reaction to the film, but for me, what remained in my mind was a heartwarming and touching feeling. Though the story goes back to almost 26 years ago, still we can feel the life of the people in a certain period of the history, with all their sufferings, difficulties and the love they share. (Shohreh GOLPARIAN BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.12.2016 – Megabox Haeundae 9 – 14:00 pm
The Priests by Jang Jae-hyun – South Korea | 2015 – 108 min.
Section | Panorama – Korean Cinema Today
In Seoul 2015, a girl displays strange symptoms after a hit-and-run. Having gotten into trouble with the church due to frequent, unexpected behavior, Priest Kim has his own plans for saving the girl despite opposition and suspicion from everyone around him. To proceed with his plan, he needs another priest with the right credentials, and while most seem to avoid him, seminarian and deacon Choi is given the mission to help and spy on Kim. Eventually, they have only one day to save the girl, so Priest Kim and Deacon Choi perform a life-threatening ritual.
Based on the short film, 12th Assistant Deacon, which won awards at both the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival and Jeonju International Film Festival, The Priests has been made into a feature-length film by the same director. It is also a creative adaptation of The Exorcist by William Friedkin, adapted to Korean circumstances. Rookie actress Park Sodam gives an impassioned performance as the girl, while Kim Yunseok and Kang Dongwon convincingly play the opposing characters of Priest Kim and Deacon Choi. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
The Road to Mandalay by Midi Z
Taiwan, France, Germany, Myanmar | 2016 – 108 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
Lianqing is a 23-year-old Burmese. To find work, she and many others from Myanmar follow a secret route down the Mekong River and on into Thailand. Since she has no work permit, she starts out washing dishes for a low wage in a rundown restaurant. Guo, who illegally crossed the border with her and has fallen in love with her, brings her to a textile factory where she can earn a higher wage. They work together there, but Lianqing hopes to eventually get the necessary legal documents and find better work in Bangkok or Taiwan. Even though she keeps getting cheated by people who profess that they can help her, she never gives up—a stubbornness that Guo just can’t understand. In order to make more money to pay for the documents, Lianqing becomes a prostitute, and when Guo finds out, he becomes incensed. When Lianqing finally gets her hands on the permits, Guo confronts her…with a knife in his hand. This is a rare, slow-burning and realistic drama about the Burmese migrants and their life in the slums. (KANG Naeyoung BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.13.2016 – Lotte Cinema Centum City 9 – 10:00 am
The Truth Beneath by Lee Kyoung-mi – South Korea | 2016 – 103 min.
Section | Panorama – Korean Cinema Today
Fifteen days before the election, the daughter of a hopeful candidate goes missing. Yeonhong, the candidate’s wife, goes in search of her daughter while her husband remains focused on winning the election, but it seems that no one can be trusted, as Yeonhong begins to pick up clues about her daughter. The Truth Beneath is a hard-boiled detective drama with a female protagonist. It was an attempt at something new in Korean cinema, but at the time of release, it did not appeal to audiences. However, some critics of the time noted that this film was innovative and fresh in terms of both genre and subject matter.
Initially, Yeonhong looks like a steely politician’s wife but in attempting to find her daughter, she reveals human qualities and fragility. There is no shame for her any more in being born in the countryside or not being so smart; the fact is, she becomes a clever confident person and the way she transforms is not only the maternal instinct but also the declaration that she will not let her life depend on someone else. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
The Wailing by Na Hong-jin – South Korea, US | 2016 – 156 min.
Section | Midnight Passion
Mysterious events following the appearance of a stranger throws a village into utter chaos. The police provisionally conclude that it is down to a mass poisoning caused by wild mushrooms, but paranoia and rumor point the finger at the stranger—and it’s escalating. Policeman Jonggu becomes convinced by the stories when, first, a woman claims to have witnessed something, and then his daughter Hyojin gets sick with similar symptoms to the other villagers. In his desperation he has an exorcism performed on the stranger by shaman Ilgwang.
The Wailing is not the kind of horror film that shocks and scares without reason; it sticks to the rules of the genre but uses them in a less than conventional way. Director Na Hong-jin utilizes this spooky scenario as a canvas on which he paints people’s fates, which is clearly unavoidable no matter what path they choose. Neither Jonggu nor the young priest is to blame for the awful consequences; they just fall into tragedy as Jonggu tries to save his daughter and the priest’s compassion become the root of his suspicion.
Schedule
10.12.2016 – Sohyang Theater Centum City – 12:00 pm
10.14.2016 – Busan Cinema Center Haneulyeon Theater – 23:59 pm
The World of Us by Yoon Ga-eun – South Korea | 2016 – 94 min.
Section | Panorama – Korean Cinema Today
Elementary school student Seon is regularly bullied and when she is left alone in the classroom on the last day of term, she meets a transfer student named Jia. They become close through sharing their secrets and spend the whole summer vacation together. But when the new term starts, Jia starts giving Seon the cold shoulder. Seon does her best to restore the relationship she had with Jia but their situation gets worse. After the short and happy time with Jia, the school soon becomes hell again for Seon.
Grown-ups happily say, “Children don’t have any problems…” but relationships are not easy, even for elementary school students; they get hurt more easily and suffer more deeply. THE WORLD OF US scrutinizes the small society of elementary school. There are plenty of movies and TV dramas touching on the issue of bullying, but none has as quite as intense a portrayal as THE WORLD OF US does. The director’s gaze attempts to delve into the reality in order to evoke viewer sympathy. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Wandering by Boonsong Nakphoo – Thailand | 2016 – 121 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
Nob leads a happy life in a small town with his wife and young son. But when his son dies and his wife leaves him, he is unable to cope. Even others in the village turn their backs on him. He becomes lonely and feels completely dejected. He plunges deeper and deeper into a downward spiral from which it seems he may not escape. That is, until a glimmer of hope appears in the form of a monk who encourages him to join the Buddhist priesthood.
Boonsong Nakphoo, who grew up dire poverty in a Buddhist temple, depicts many of truths contained within Buddhism and in life. Thailand’s dense forests and jungles have often been used in films to convey a sense of mystery, and Nakphoo expertly uses them to deliver lessons on enlightenment through meditation and asceticism. Reminiscent of the scent of a windy forest after a rainfall, Wandering captures in its final shot the mercy of Buddha, which today appears to be receding from the ordinary. (PARK Sungho BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.12.2016 – Megabox Haeundae 9 – 11:00 am
White Ant by Chu Hsien-che – Taiwan | 2016 – 95 min.
Section | New Currents
The debut feature film by Chu Hsien-Che, who made several documentaries, White Ant is a psychological drama that tells a story about sexual fetishism. Bai Yide is a young man living alone. He works at a bookstore and derives sexual pleasure by stealing and wearing women’s underwear. One day, he receives a DVD in which his activities have been recorded and he becomes anxious. The DVD was sent by Junhong, who happened to know about Bai’s psychological trauma steming from working at Bai’s mother’s wedding dress shop. The director shows deep interest in Bai’s anxiety and the emotional change in Junhong. Junhong sends the DVD as a message of warning but, ironically, it works as a way to harass the weak at the same time. This implies the dual face of power. We are all subject to power relations in our daily lives. White Ant, therefore, has both nature of a psychological drama and a social drama. (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.12.2016 – CGV Centum City 6 – 16:00 pm
10.14.2016 – Megabox Haeundae M – 13:00 pm
White Sun by Deepak Rauniyar – Nepal, US, Qatar, Netherlands | 2016 – 89 min.
Section | A Window on Asian Cinema
When his father dies, former anti-regime partisan Chandra must travel to his remote mountain village after nearly a decade away. Little Pooja is anxiously awaiting to see the man she thinks is her father for the first time. But she’s confused when Chandra arrives with Badri, a young street orphan rumoured to be his son. She tries to calm her mother Durga, the old man‘s caretaker, after the angry woman is excluded from preparing the body for funeral rites because tradition does not allow women to participate. Chandra‘s arrival is more awkward than he expected due to a complication with removing his father‘s body from home. He and Durga struggle with an unspoken pain that prevents any reconciliation. To make matters worse, Chandra must face his brother Suraj, who was on the opposing side during the civil war. The two brothers cannot put aside political feelings while carrying their father‘s body down the steep mountain path to the river for cremation. Suraj storms off in a rage, leaving Chandra with no other men strong enough to help. Under pressure from the village elders, Chandra must seek help from outside the village to obey the rigid caste and discriminatory gender traditions he fought to eliminate during the war. Young children Pooja and Badri tag along as Chandra searches for a solution in neighboring villages. The unlikely trio search for help among the police, guests at a local wedding, and rebel guerrillas… (BIFF Catalogue 2016)
Schedule
10.12.2016 – Lotte Cinema Centum City 5 – 11:00 am
10.14.2016 – Lotte Cinema Centum City 9 – 19:00 pm
Your Name by Shinkai Makoto – Japan | 2016 – 106 min.
Section | Gala Presentation
The much-anticipated new animated film from Shinkai Makoto, hailed by some as even the “Post Miyazaki Hayao”. It features an all-star line-up of filmmakers, musicians, and voice actors including character designer Tanaka Masayosi, animation director Andou Masashi, the rock band RADWIMPS, and voice performers Kamiki Ryunosuke and Kamishiraishi Mone.
Two high school kids who’ve never met, Taki, a city boy from Tokyo, and Mitsuha, who lives in the country, start inhabiting one another’s dreams, with Taki dreaming he’s Mitsuha and Mitsuha dreaming she’s Taki. This seemingly simple fantasy story about teenagers expands to an unimaginable dimension when a comet falls in the mountain village and completely reverses time and space.
Any yearning for the natural or the urban vanish, the comet sending a crushing blow to Taki and Mitsuha’s fateful encounter. It’s as if this reflects the director’s wish to restore nature to the people who either died or disappeared in the March 11 tsunami that hit Japan. In the end, as always, Shinkai Makoto’s miniature paintings draw awe-inspiring emotions.
Schedule
10.12.2016 – Sohyang Theater Centum City – 19:00 pm
10.15.2016 – Busan Cinema Center Cinema 1 – 14:00 pm
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Categories: Film Festival
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