We present ten movies you cannot miss at the Busan International Kids & Youth Film Festival that is taking place from July 12th – 18th, in Busan, South Korea.

#BKKY by Nontawat Numbenchapol – Thailand | 2017 – 75 min.
Rating: + 15

Jojo, a 17-year-old girl from Bangkok, is about to graduate from high school. After her frined Q reveals a secret to her, the two girls grow close and spend all their time together. Jojo’s father wholeheartedly approves of the friendship and is just glad that Jojo is not going on any dates with boys. But there’s a storm cloud on the horizon. After entering university, Jojo meets Jeff and they begin dating-a decision that jeopardized Jojo’s relationship with Q.

Schedule:
Friday July 14th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema2 – 17:30 pm

Trailer:

Fortune Favors the Brave by Norbert Lechner – Germany | 2016 – 95 min.
Rating: +8

Eleven-year-old Linh is a very a self-reliant girl. When her mother, wgi us taking care of Ling and her youner sister on her own, must unexpectedly leave to Vietnam, Linh manages to run the house and family restaurant in her absence. She must also take care of her sister trying not to let anyone know that the girl are left on their own. The biggest problem is red-haired Pauline, who controls the whole neighborhood and discovers the secret. She starts to blackmail the sisters.

Schedule:
Saturday July 15th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 1 – 19:00 pm
Sunday July 16th – Busan Museum of Movies – 15:00 pm

Trailer:

Goodbye My Hero by Han Yeong-hui – South Korea | 2016 – 107 min.
Rating: + 12

Hyeon-wu is a school boy who wants to be as invisible as possible. He is filling in information in the school life report card with his father, who came home in a long while. His father is fighting against Ssang-Yong Motors for years to be reinstated. However, it doesn’t seem like his father’s state has gotten any better. Why would his father keep going without any promising prospects? We wonder what answers Hyeon-wu will get while he glimpses the real world watching his father.

Schedule:
Thursday July 13th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinematheque – 10:00 am
Thursday July 13th – Busan Museum of Movies – 15:00 pm

Trailer (Korean no English subtitle):

Heartstone by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson – Iceland, Denmark | 2016 – 129 min.
Rating: + 17

Tor and Kristjan spend a turbulent summer in a remote fishing village. Tor’s best friend Kristjan is always protecting him from his sisters at home and others outside. Both are from dysfunctional families Tor with a disinterested mother, and Kristjan with a physically abusive father. When Tor falls in love with a girl, Kristjan realizes the identity of his feeling for his best friend.

Schedule:
Friday July 14th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 2 – 14:00 pm

Trailer:

Homo Examines by Kim Jae-woo – South Korea | 2016 – 81 min.
Rating: +15

The elegant lives of an all-boys high school in South Korea, without a single second of studying.

Schedule:
Thursday July 13th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 2 – 10:00 am
Friday July 14 – Busan Museum of Movies – 10:00 am
Saturday July 15th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 2 – 14:00 pm

Long way north by Remi Chaye – France | 2015 – 81 min.
Rating: +8

LONG WAY NORTH is set in the late 19th century Saint Petersburg. Sacha, a young girl from the Russian aristocracy, dreams of the Great North and anguishes over the fate of her grandfather, Oloukine, a renowned scientist and Arctic explorer who has yet to return from his latest expedition to conquer the North Pole. Sacha has always been fascinated by the adventurous life of her grandfather and has the same calling as Oloukine to be an explorer. But Sacha’s parents, who already made arrangements for her marriage, strongly disapprove the idea to say the least. Defying her destiny, Sacha flees her home and launches an adventure-filled quest toward the Great North in search of Oloukine and his ship.

Schedule:
Thursday July 13th – Community Media Center – 14:00 pm
Friday July 14th – Community Media Center – 10:00 am
Friday July 14th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 2 – 12:00 pm
Monday 17th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 2 – 14:30 pm

Trailer:

Morris from America by Chad Hartigan – USA, Germany | 2016 – 89 min.
Rating: +17

Morris Gentry is 13, overweight, and fancies himself the next Notorious B.I.G. He’s entering puberty, self-conscious, and new to living in Heidelberg, Germany, where nobody else looks or acts like him. His single father Curtis is better at relating to Morris as a friend than a father, bonding with his son over their shared love of music. Initially, Morris only interacts with Curtis and Inka, his kind – if naïve – German language tutor, but when forced to attend summer classes at a youth center, he instantly falls in love. 15-year-old Katrin is just the girl for Morris: rebellious, cool as ice, and not as indifferent toward him as the other kids. As the two begin to develop a slow friendship (albeit one that Morris hopes will be the start of something deeper), Morris drifts further from Curtis, who is having a hard time of his own adjusting to his son’s burgeoning adolescence. In the wake of these changing relationships, Morris risks everything in a journey far outside of his comfort zone toward self-confidence and acceptance in this new, foreign environment.

Schedule:
Thursday July 13th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 2 – 19:30 pm
Tuesday July 18th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 1 – 14:00 pm

Trailer:

Panpaka Pants the Movie: Treasure of the Banana Kingdom
by Benpineko – Japan | 2015 – 63 min.
Rating: G

Panpaka and Punyan separated from their family during a family vacation, and ending up in the jungle nation of the Bananan Kingdom. Bananan Kingdom is being tormented by the Alligator King, who took all the bananas of the kingdom, forcing the Bananan Kingdom’s citizens to eat nothing but ice cream. There, Panpaka and Punyan are mistaken by the king as the “Legendary Pants Hero,” and is entrusted in retrieving the “sacred pants.” He is joined by Wanpoko The Dog, Orson The Crane, and Terry The Monkey.

Schedule:
Friday July 14th – Busan Cinema Center: Haneulyeun Theatre – 16:00 pm
Sunday July 16th – Busan Cinema Center: Haneulyeun Theatre – 11:00 am

Trailer:

Seven Sacks of Rice by Maricel Cariaga – Philippines | 2016 – 103 min.
Rating: +8

On the rice fields of Isabela, the dela Cruz family lives a simple, frugal life, devoid of electricity or any luxury, making ends meet by planting rice and gathering what the season offers. The young Balong dreams of graduating and helping his parents, as he and his siblings witness the daily struggles their parents’ experience.
As his mother Deling and father Jaime try to find ways to feed the family while supporting their studies, Balong and his brother Lito try to compensate by studying hard and earning honors at school.
Dreaming of a better life, Balong counts the sacks of rice they have left, the money they need, and the little moments that led to an inevitable departure that will leave them all affected.

Schedule:
Sunday July 16th – Busan Museum of Movies – 17:00 pm

Trailer:

Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass by Victor Vu – Vietnam | 2015 – 103 min.
Rating: +12

A coming of age story set in the Vietnamese countryside during the late 1980s, as told through the eyes of a 12 year old boy named THIEU. Thieu and his younger brother TUONG share and do everything together. Their days unfold like a whimsical and comical journey filled with innocence, wonder, confusion and curious adventures. Tuong idolizes his older brother’s confidence and constantly strives for his approval. But in fact, Thieu’s “over-confidence” is to compensate for his overwhelming insecurities. Thieu is constantly jealous of his younger brother when it comes to grades, talent and affection from the girl next door, MOON. This leads to an act of violence which leaves Tuong paralyzed and bedridden. In coming to terms with his own conscience, Thieu attempts to redeem himself and discovers the true meaning of brotherhood.

Schedule:
Thursday July 13th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 2 – 12:30 pm
Sunday July 16th – Busan Cinema Center: Cinema 2 – 14:00 pm

Trailer: