By AFP
SEOUL: An Iranian film about a disabled father who looks after his paralysed son will open Asia’s biggest film festival next month, organisers said on Wednesday as the event returns to “fully normal” for the first time since the pandemic started.
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will run from October 5-14 and feature 243 movies from 71 countries, including 89 that will have their world premiere.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival was reduced to a fraction of its usual scale in 2020 while last year’s edition took place with social distancing measures.
But next month, the annual event in the South Korean port city will be “fully normalised for the first time in three years since Covid-19,” festival director Huh Moon-young told reporters.
“We feel fortunate to be able to play the role of Asia’s best film festival again.”
The upcoming edition will open with Iranian filmmaker Hadi Mohaghegh’s “Scent of Wind”, which tells the story of a father and a son — both of whom have disabilities — living in a remote village.
Mohaghegh’s film is “very small and quiet, but it’s really a great movie that has a tremendous amount of resonance and emotion that cannot be compared to its size,” Huh said.
Japanese director Kei Ishikawa’s drama “A Man”, about a widow who discovers unexpected truths about her late husband, will close the edition.
The film is “elegant and calm”, festival director Huh said, while offering a memorable exploration of identity and belonging.
SEOUL: An Iranian film about a disabled father who looks after his paralysed son will open Asia’s biggest film festival next month, organisers said on Wednesday as the event returns to “fully normal” for the first time since the pandemic started.
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will run from October 5-14 and feature 243 movies from 71 countries, including 89 that will have their world premiere.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival was reduced to a fraction of its usual scale in 2020 while last year’s edition took place with social distancing measures.
But next month, the annual event in the South Korean port city will be “fully normalised for the first time in three years since Covid-19,” festival director Huh Moon-young told reporters.
“We feel fortunate to be able to play the role of Asia’s best film festival again.”
The upcoming edition will open with Iranian filmmaker Hadi Mohaghegh’s “Scent of Wind”, which tells the story of a father and a son — both of whom have disabilities — living in a remote village.
Mohaghegh’s film is “very small and quiet, but it’s really a great movie that has a tremendous amount of resonance and emotion that cannot be compared to its size,” Huh said.
Japanese director Kei Ishikawa’s drama “A Man”, about a widow who discovers unexpected truths about her late husband, will close the edition.
The film is “elegant and calm”, festival director Huh said, while offering a memorable exploration of identity and belonging.
