From a Singaporean widow on a K-drama voyage of self-discovery to teenagers seeking revenge on a bully, the movies vying for the key prize at the Busan International Film Festival showcase a diverse array of Asian experiences.
Ten films are in the running for the high-profile New Currents award at the festival — Asia’s largest — which will hand out two prizes of $30,000 to first- or second-time Asian directors on Friday.
Host South Korea — now a cultural powerhouse thanks to the explosive success of the Oscar-winning film “Parasite” and the Netflix series “Squid Game” — has two films in competition, including the highly talked-about “Hail to Hell” by Lim Oh-jeong.
The entertaining, at times genre-defying flick follows two teenage girls as they travel to Seoul to confront their bully.
Critics have hailed its fresh approach to tackling popular tropes of South Korean cinema, including suicide and cults.
Lim, 40, has been coming to Busan as an audience member to watch films for two decades and said it was both “a huge honour and nerve-wracking” for local filmmakers like her to have their work in competition.
Her film was inspired by the universal “moments that make us want to die because we are so alone and in so much pain”, she said.
But festival director Huh Moon-young said its goal was to nurture regional filmmakers, not just homegrown talent.
“Supporting Asian filmmakers and rooting for them is the real responsibility of the Busan Film Festival,” he said.
Afsheen Gohar believes in the power of clear, straightforward writing. Her blog posts tackle everyday topics with relatable insights and easy-to-follow advice. With a conversational style, she makes complex subjects feel understandable. She’s dedicated to sharing knowledge and empowering readers to take action. Find her latest posts on trending in social.
