19th Busan intl film festival to embrace 'China's moment'

With the attendance of more than 20 Chinese-language films and dozens of notable Chinese directors, actors and actress, the upcoming 19th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will embrace "China's moment."

This year's Busan International Film Festival has set Taiwanese director Doze Niu's "Paradise in Service" as its opening film.

The film reflects the time of his father's generation who served in the Taiwanese military in the 60s and 70s, according to the organizers.

The closing film also goes to Chinese movie"Gangster Pay Day", directed by Hong Kong director Lee Pocheung. It is a new style of hybrid genre that combines comedy and melodrama, covering the story of a gangster without the traditional tragic beauty of action films.

Two Chinese films have been invited to the"New Currents"section, the event's main competition section, which presents a showcase of young talent expected to play leading roles in the Asian film industry. Chinese films again prove their strong potential despite their absence from this section last year.

One of the films is"Nezha", the movie debut of Chinese director Li Xiaofeng, telling a story about two girls who are experiencing conflicts with their parents.

Another is "(Sex) Appeal", directed by Taiwanese director Wang Weiming, which digs into the complex and subtle psychology of people who are involved in solving a rape case that happened in a university.

The organizer committee of BIFF said most debut films of this section are directed by young directors and the majority of these films deal with the troubles and wanderings of youth.

The Gala Presentation, which presents the most recent works of master directors, has invited Chinese director Zhang Yimou and Ann Hui to bring their new masterpieces.

Zhang Yimou's latest film"Coming Home"was a reunion with Gong Li after a long interval. This time, he abandoned commercial appeal to return to one of his favorite themes: a love story of a couple with twists and turns. It was also invited to the Cannes International Film Festival this year and earned acclaim. "The Golden Era" by Ann Hui is a piece that winds up her directing career's apex. It is about a story of the prominent Chinese female writer Xiao Hong's life during the chaos of 1930s in China.

The screening of Ann Hui's new film is further more spotlighted after her earlier winning of the 2014 Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award of the Busan International Film Festival this year.

Tang Wei, the famous Chinese actress who played Xiao Hong in the film, will also attend the film festival. It will be the first public appearance of the newly married couple if she comes together with her husband, South Korean filmmaker Kim Tae-yong.

Among those invited to attend this year's BIFF are also Chinese actor Chen Daoming, Chen Jianbin, Anthony Wong, Chen Chang,Ethan Juan and actress Liu Shishi, Chen Yihan, Charlene Choi, Wan Qian and others, a rare all-star cast that set a record in BIFF's history.

Besides, Hong Kong's director Peter Chan will attend"A Window on Asian Cinema" with his latest film"Dearest". "Red Amnesia"by director Wang Xiaoshuai,"The Continent"by Chinese writer Han Han," The Scared Arrow" by Tibetan director Pema Tseden and a dozen other Chinese films will be screened in this section.

Chinese action movie "Brotherhood of Blades" by director Lu Yang and"Five Minutes to Tomorrow", a movie co-produced by China and Japan will be played in the open cinema section.

The 19th Busan International Festival will run from Oct 2 to 11. A Total of 313 films from 79 countries will be played out during the festival, with 96 world premieres and 36 international premieres, a slightly increase comparing with last year.

Unlike the three traditional international film festivals in Venice, Cannes and Berlin, theBusan film festival is focusing more on discovering new talent rather than the established filmmakers. It is also a discovery of the Asian cinema potential.