The Busan International Film Festival was founded in The Busan International Film Festival was founded in 1996 and is also one of the most important film festivals in Asia. From September to October each year, the Busan Film Festival is held in Busan, South Korea's second largest port city, in an effort to promote the development of the Korean film industry and contribute to the expansion of Asian films to the world.
The Busan Film Festival is also known as a paradise for new directors. It is famous for screening and selecting new directors' works. Many new films will also choose to premiere at the Busan Film Festival.
The Chinese have won the “New Wave Award” many times at the Busan Film Festival. From November 1st to 15th, CathayPlay decided to show these 9 Chinese films that were shortlisted and awarded at the Busan Film Festival in the past two decades, staring at 9 different lives in different eras. (Tap HERE for more info)
LOVE CONQUERS ALL by Tan Chui Mui
Ping (Coral Ong Li Whei) has come from Penang in the north to Kuala Lumpur to work with her aunt. There she meets John, a young man who keeps trying to approach her. Ping feels increasingly attracted to John, and although she has a boyfriend in Penang she is drawn more and more into his world. Ping loses herself in her love and does all she can to keep John.
LOOK LOVE by Ye Yun
Two children who are a part of the ‘left-behind' children phenomenon in China reveal what it's like to live with a shortage of love and an absence of family values.
NEW CASTLE by Guo Hengqi
New Castle is a remote rural village where houses and mountains have been distorted due to excessive mining. Under the “New Village” campaign, all the villagers will be moved into the nearly completed Luxury Buildings. The documentary depicts the life of two groups of people, miners and villagers. The miners who are from all over the country, lost their jobs because of the Olympic Games in Beijing – the mine was shut down to make the air less polluted. The villagers had no better luck. Granny Fan lost two sons and two grandsons in a mining accident. Old Han and Old Wang are still farming. Some youngsters are gambling in the house of Han Bin, who was crippled in another mining accident. In the film, you can also see the village election, the service of local Christians, and people worshipping for a better year to come.
ONE SUMMER by Yang Yishu
Late one night, Zhen Liu's husband, Shen Xiaoping, was arrested. He's been missing for over thirty days. Zhen Liu doesn't know the reason for her husband's arrest, nor his whereabouts. Although she faces many difficulties, Zhen Liu appears to be leading a normal life. In reality, she projects her anxiety onto her daughter. Zhen Liu seeks help from her husband's friend, lawyer, classmate, and business partner, each of whom is faced with a predicament. Everyone ventures to guess the reason for Xiao Ping's arrest. Zhen Liu's former suitor, Xin Lv, arrives to help her. He feels deeply moved by how she has changed. Xin Lv relies on his social network to help Zhen Liu understand why her husband was arrested. Zhen Liu feels it's very unfitting to establish contact with the authorities. A police officer ultimately tells Zhen Liu why her husband has been arrested, allowing her to see clearly the randomness of his so-called criminal charges. Her husband's absence allows Zhen Liu to understand him better. Since her husband has been charged randomly, Zhen Liu stops cooperating with Xin Lv and his social network because she believes their method is meaningless. An erroneous deal with Xin Lv makes Zhen Liu feel tremendous resentment toward him, so she refuses his help, though he still clings to their original plan. Xiao Ping eventually returns home, though his return has little to do with everyone's efforts to help him.
FLOWER IN THE POCKET by Liew Seng Tat
Li Ahh (Lim Ming Wei) and Li Ohm (Wong Zi Jiang) grow up motherless. Their father Sui (James Lee) is a workaholic who spends most of his time mending broken mannequins. Sui is an outsider to the two boys, the only legacy left by the woman he loved, or still loves. While he shuts himself out from the world, the two brothers grow up with all the freedom of neglected children. They roam the streets; get into fights and other trouble in school. During these times they becomes friends with the girl Ayu(Amira Nasuha) and are able to feel maternal love from Ayu's mother. On the Mother's Day in Malaysia, children put a red flower in mother's pocket if mother's alive and white flower if not. The two brothers have no idea if their mother is still alive or not so they do not know what colour of flower they should give. One day on the way home, they adopt a stray puppy, which becomes the most important thing in their lives. When the puppy is sent away for being a nuisance, the boys are devastated. Sui is very much affected by his boys' strong emotional attachment to the puppy. For the very first time, he realises that he is still able to love and he's going to do something about it before it's too late.
LOST MOUNTAIN by Gu Tao
Gei Libao, the former Olunchun hunter raised more than 100 Hunting horses in the traditional way. Although hunting was banned, Libao occasionally went into the mountains, not for hunting, but for the ancestors' hunting culture. Libao's son Liang Liang and his partner are inseparable from the forest, and are more enthusiastic about modern extreme sports. They have formed an off-road motorcycle team, which is consuming the youth of the mountain. One day in summer, Libao's horses was hit by a poacher's bullet, which caused a series of cultural collisions.
IN EXPECTATION (RESTORED VERSION) by Zhang Ming
Mai Qiang is a 30-year old bachelor, withdrawn, with little in his life besides his job at an isolated signal station along the Yangtze River and his ink drawings he uses as toilet paper. Chen Qing is a hotel clerk, a widow with a young child and an undemanding relationship with her boss Lao Mo. Lao believes she has been raped, so he reports the crime to Wu Gang, the neighborhood cop. Wu investigates, but Chen is uncooperative. Lao then identifies Mai, who is detained and questioned. After Wu gets to the truth of the incident, Mai tries to break out of his loneliness and connect to Chen.
NOBODY'S GIRLFRIEND by Tan Chui Mui
The Short film is made during Tan Chui Mui's CinefondationResidency in Paris, casting another two residents, Nadav Rapid and Rusudan Chkonia. The story is inspired by Nadav Rapid's “Emile's Girlfriend”. Tan Chui Mui calls the film her French impression.
A YOUNG PATRIOT by Du Haibin
In 2009, during the Pingyao Photography Exhibition, Xiao Zhao, a patriotic young man studying in high school, shouted for the Diaoyutai anti-Japanese. Xiao Zhao's family is poor, and he has to ask relatives to borrow money for college entrance examinations. Finally, he was admitted to the National University, determined to study against American imperialism. Newton said that there are gravity and anti-gravity in the world, and there is still room for free thinking in college life, so Xiao Zhao went to Daliang Mountain to teach. Later, when Xiao Zhao's family changed, he went through demolition and his grandfather passed away. Xiao Zhao's original pure and beautiful feelings for the country gradually disappeared, and he began to learn to think.
