Tag: Busan International Film Festival

  • ‘Dear Jinri’ bears witness to late K-pop singer Sulli’sĀ truth, brutal music industry

    By AFP

    BUSAN: A new documentary featuring a late K-pop star’s final interview unveils complex truths about South Korea’s notoriously brutal music industry while highlighting her defiance of pressure to conform to societal norms.

    “Dear Jinri”, which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival, revolves around singing star Sulli’s last Netflix project, an unfinished film that included an in-depth interview.

    Born Choi Jin-ri, Sulli took her own life in 2019 at age 25, after a long struggle with online bullying. The interview in the film — raw, powerful and heartbreaking — has never been previously seen.

    What Sulli shares in that conversation raises “many critical issues in our society,” director Jung Yoon-suk said after the film’s BIFF screening Saturday evening.

    “These can be seen as issues related to women, or they could be problems concerning the vulnerable in our society, or related to matters of equality,” he said.

    Sulli, who began her career as a child actress at age 11, made her debut in 2009 for f(x), which quickly became one of K-pop’s top girl groups.

    Known for behaviour considered controversial in South Korea — including refusing to wear a bra in public — she faced relentless online bullying and was frequently targeted by sexually abusive comments.

    The film also explores the singer’s lonely childhood and battles with self-perception as a woman in a world that can be intensely focused on appearance.

    “Since you are born as a pretty woman, you don’t have to know anything,” Sulli says she was told.

    But, she adds: “It’s obnoxious to say your life was hard because you are a pretty woman.”

    The well-documented pressures of the K-pop world are also spotlighted, with Sulli explaining how she was told her goal was to be “the highest quality product”.

    She likens her experience to that of the protagonist in Luc Besson’s 1990 “La Femme Nikita”, who undergoes rigorous and vicious training to become a programmed assassin, completely cut off from the outside world.

    It seemed as if people “couldn’t recognise that we were human beings”, Sulli says in the film.

    The interview is punctuated by frequent pauses as the camera lingers silently on its subject, the pain and sorrow palpable on her face.

    Audible sobs from the audience could be heard throughout the screening.

    A self-aware artistSuicide is the leading cause of death among South Koreans aged 10 to 39 and occurs at an unusually high rate, official figures show.

    Several other young K-pop stars have died of suspected suicide in recent years, including Goo Hara, Jonghyun and Moonbin. The incidents have prompted calls for increased mental health support for young people in the industry.

    Sulli’s response to director Jung’s question about the online bullying she endured — specifically, her decision to grant legal forgiveness to one of the perpetrators — is arguably one of the most poignant and revealing scenes in the movie.

    She also candidly discusses feminism — a topic still controversial in socially conservative South Korea — saying she “rooted for women who spoke out”, even when their views did not align with hers.

    In the end, the film paints a portrait of a contemplative, resilient figure who, in the ways she could, resisted the pressure to conform, striving instead to forge her own understanding of the world and her place in it.

    The film takes its title from Sulli’s legal name, Jin-ri, which means truth in Korean.

    “It was incredibly important to view this person not just as a celebrity or an idol, but as someone who possesses self-awareness as an artist,” Jung said.

    “It seemed like the movie would be meaningful as the truth itself, just as (her) name implies.”

    BUSAN: A new documentary featuring a late K-pop star’s final interview unveils complex truths about South Korea’s notoriously brutal music industry while highlighting her defiance of pressure to conform to societal norms.

    “Dear Jinri”, which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival, revolves around singing star Sulli’s last Netflix project, an unfinished film that included an in-depth interview.

    Born Choi Jin-ri, Sulli took her own life in 2019 at age 25, after a long struggle with online bullying. The interview in the film — raw, powerful and heartbreaking — has never been previously seen.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    What Sulli shares in that conversation raises “many critical issues in our society,” director Jung Yoon-suk said after the film’s BIFF screening Saturday evening.

    “These can be seen as issues related to women, or they could be problems concerning the vulnerable in our society, or related to matters of equality,” he said.

    Sulli, who began her career as a child actress at age 11, made her debut in 2009 for f(x), which quickly became one of K-pop’s top girl groups.

    Known for behaviour considered controversial in South Korea — including refusing to wear a bra in public — she faced relentless online bullying and was frequently targeted by sexually abusive comments.

    The film also explores the singer’s lonely childhood and battles with self-perception as a woman in a world that can be intensely focused on appearance.

    “Since you are born as a pretty woman, you don’t have to know anything,” Sulli says she was told.

    But, she adds: “It’s obnoxious to say your life was hard because you are a pretty woman.”

    The well-documented pressures of the K-pop world are also spotlighted, with Sulli explaining how she was told her goal was to be “the highest quality product”.

    She likens her experience to that of the protagonist in Luc Besson’s 1990 “La Femme Nikita”, who undergoes rigorous and vicious training to become a programmed assassin, completely cut off from the outside world.

    It seemed as if people “couldn’t recognise that we were human beings”, Sulli says in the film.

    The interview is punctuated by frequent pauses as the camera lingers silently on its subject, the pain and sorrow palpable on her face.

    Audible sobs from the audience could be heard throughout the screening.

    A self-aware artist
    Suicide is the leading cause of death among South Koreans aged 10 to 39 and occurs at an unusually high rate, official figures show.

    Several other young K-pop stars have died of suspected suicide in recent years, including Goo Hara, Jonghyun and Moonbin. The incidents have prompted calls for increased mental health support for young people in the industry.

    Sulli’s response to director Jung’s question about the online bullying she endured — specifically, her decision to grant legal forgiveness to one of the perpetrators — is arguably one of the most poignant and revealing scenes in the movie.

    She also candidly discusses feminism — a topic still controversial in socially conservative South Korea — saying she “rooted for women who spoke out”, even when their views did not align with hers.

    In the end, the film paints a portrait of a contemplative, resilient figure who, in the ways she could, resisted the pressure to conform, striving instead to forge her own understanding of the world and her place in it.

    The film takes its title from Sulli’s legal name, Jin-ri, which means truth in Korean.

    “It was incredibly important to view this person not just as a celebrity or an idol, but as someone who possesses self-awareness as an artist,” Jung said.

    “It seemed like the movie would be meaningful as the truth itself, just as (her) name implies.”

  • We have a lot of censorship requirements in mainlandĀ China: Chow Yun-fat at BIFF

    By AFP

    BUSAN: Hong Kong film legend Chow Yun-fat on Thursday lamented China’s “difficult” censorship while conceding the mainland market’s crucial financial importance for filmmakers.

    Speaking at South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), Chow told reporters that Hong Kong’s cinema industry had to learn to play by a new set of rules since the city returned to China’s control in 1997.

    “We have a lot of censorship requirements in mainland China. Our scripts must go through a lot of different departments for the film bureau”, BIFF’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year honouree said.

    But while Chow said things were “very difficult” for Hong Kong’s filmmakers, they also knew it was necessary to reach the “huge” mainland Chinese audience to “make a living”.

    “We have to pay attention to our government … otherwise it is very hard to get the money to shoot a movie,” he said, adding they still strove to maintain the “Hong Kong spirit”.

    In announcing this year’s honour, BIFF organisers heaped praise on Chow for “spearheading the golden age of Hong Kong cinema” that flowered in the early 1990s, and making “Hong Kong noir” a globally recognised genre.

    Three of Chow’s films — “A Better Tomorrow” (1986), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and 2023’s “One More Chance” — will be screened at the festival.

    Freedom

    Along with Tony Leung, his “Hard Boiled” co-star and 2022 BIFF honouree, Chow has long been a well-liked figure in South Korea thanks to Hong Kong cinema’s surge in popularity in the 1990s.

    Since then, South Korea has cemented its own status as a global cultural powerhouse, and has had explosive successes like Oscar-winning film “Parasite” and the Netflix series “Squid Game”.

    “It’s a good thing that when one industry feels stagnant and unable to move forward, another region can take it even further,” Chow said, when asked about the rise of South Korean cinema.

    “I believe the greatest strength of Korean cinema lies in its freedom.”

    Despite his prolific career and global fame, Chow said he still considers himself an “ordinary person”.

    In 2018, he vowed to donate his fortune to charity after he dies.

    Chow quipped Thursday that it was his wife’s decision, but added: “I believe that since I came into this world with nothing, it doesn’t really matter if I leave with nothing as well.”

    BUSAN: Hong Kong film legend Chow Yun-fat on Thursday lamented China’s “difficult” censorship while conceding the mainland market’s crucial financial importance for filmmakers.

    Speaking at South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), Chow told reporters that Hong Kong’s cinema industry had to learn to play by a new set of rules since the city returned to China’s control in 1997.

    “We have a lot of censorship requirements in mainland China. Our scripts must go through a lot of different departments for the film bureau”, BIFF’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year honouree said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    But while Chow said things were “very difficult” for Hong Kong’s filmmakers, they also knew it was necessary to reach the “huge” mainland Chinese audience to “make a living”.

    “We have to pay attention to our government … otherwise it is very hard to get the money to shoot a movie,” he said, adding they still strove to maintain the “Hong Kong spirit”.

    In announcing this year’s honour, BIFF organisers heaped praise on Chow for “spearheading the golden age of Hong Kong cinema” that flowered in the early 1990s, and making “Hong Kong noir” a globally recognised genre.

    Three of Chow’s films — “A Better Tomorrow” (1986), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and 2023’s “One More Chance” — will be screened at the festival.

    Freedom

    Along with Tony Leung, his “Hard Boiled” co-star and 2022 BIFF honouree, Chow has long been a well-liked figure in South Korea thanks to Hong Kong cinema’s surge in popularity in the 1990s.

    Since then, South Korea has cemented its own status as a global cultural powerhouse, and has had explosive successes like Oscar-winning film “Parasite” and the Netflix series “Squid Game”.

    “It’s a good thing that when one industry feels stagnant and unable to move forward, another region can take it even further,” Chow said, when asked about the rise of South Korean cinema.

    “I believe the greatest strength of Korean cinema lies in its freedom.”

    Despite his prolific career and global fame, Chow said he still considers himself an “ordinary person”.

    In 2018, he vowed to donate his fortune to charity after he dies.

    Chow quipped Thursday that it was his wife’s decision, but added: “I believe that since I came into this world with nothing, it doesn’t really matter if I leave with nothing as well.”

  • Song Joong-ki, Park So-dam to host Busan International Film Festival opening ceremony

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: South Korean stars Song Joong-ki and Park So-dam will host the opening ceremony of the upcoming Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) on October 6, the organisers announced Thursday.

    The 26th edition of Asia’s leading movie gala will be held in Busan, South Korea and will run through October 15.

    According to the official website of the BIFF, the socially-distanced opening ceremony will take place at the Busan Cinema Center on the night of October 6.

    Song, best known internationally for hit Korean dramas such as “Descendants of the Sun” and “Sungkyunkwan Scandal”, most recently played the titular role in Netflix’s legal crime series “Vincenzo”.

    He also appeared in the South Korean space Western film “Space Sweepers”.

    Regarded as the first Korean space blockbuster, the movie was also released on Netflix.

    Park shot to global prominence as the crafty Ki-jung, the youngest daughter of the Kim family, in the widely celebrated South Korean film “Parasite”, directed by Bong Joon-ho.

    Prior to the multiple Academy Award-winning “Parasite”, she also starred in films like “The Royal Tailor” and “The Silenced”.

    Her Korean drama credits include shows like “A Beautiful Mind”, “Cinderella and the Four Knights” and “Record of Youth”.

    As previously announced, the BIFF will screen 223 films from 70 countries, of which 92 will be world premieres and four will be international premieres.

    The festival will open with the world premiere of Im Sang-soo’s “Heaven: To The Land Of Happiness”, which was selected for last year’s Cannes 2020 label.

    The world premiere of Longman Leung’s “Anita”, which is the much-anticipated biopic about late Hong Kong cinema legend Anita Mui, will close the movie gala.

    From India, filmmaker Shoojit Sircar’s production “Deep6” and Aparna Sen’s feature “The Rapist” will premiere at the festival in ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’ section.

    “The Rapist”, starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Arjun Rampal and Tanmay Dhanania, is nominated for the prestigious Kim Jiseok Award at the film gala.

    Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is also nominated for the Kim Jiseok Award for his latest feature “No Land’s Man” starring Indian actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

    This year, the BIFF has introduced a new section “On Screen”, which will showcase highly anticipated drama series that will be streamed over online video streaming platforms.

    Yeon Sang-ho’s “Hellbound”, Kim Jin-min’s “My Name”, and “Forbidden”, which was co-directed by Anucha Boonyawatana (Thailand) and Josh Kim (US) are the three dramas that have been invited to launch the segment.