BUSAN, South Korea, Oct 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A thrill-a-minute actioner
from China and a moving South Korean drama about a unique family reunion have
taken the top prize at Asia’s largest film festival, with judges lauding both
for their “original” takes.
“Savage”, from first-time Chinese director Cui Si-wei, pits a forest ranger
against gold thieves in a snowy mountain range and won praise from the New
Currents award jury at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) for being
“strikingly accomplished and riveting”.
South Korean production “Clean up”, from debut feature director Kwon Man-
ki, charts the tale of a struggling woman who is offered a salvation of sorts
when she meets someone from her past.
It is a film with “perfect control and masterful psychological
development,” the jury statement read.
BIFF’s New Currents award comes with prizes of $30,000 for the two most
impressive efforts from first- or second-time Asian filmmakers and there had
been a buzz around town after screenings of “Savage” in particular. The film
now looks certain for wide commercial release in China and beyond.
Veteran South Korean director Kim Hong-joon, who led the New Currents jury,
said the judges were unanimous in their decision to award “Savage” its prize.
“[It shows] a mastery of genre cinema, with multi-dimensional characters
and thrilling action sequences,” said Kim.
Other highlights of this year’s BIFF included a documentary section that
featured films that scratched away at the region’s political and social
scars.
The gripping Taiwanese effort “Opening Closing Forgetting”, from director
James T. Hong, looked at how Chinese farmers survived human experimentation
by occupying Japanese forces during the Second World War, but have never
really recovered from the horrors they were put through.
It took the BIFF Mecenat Award for best documentary — winning praise from
the award panel for its “profound dedication to its story” — along with
Kelvin Park’s “Army”, which shed light on lives led by South Korea’s military
conscripts.
– Nod to a martial arts master –
BIFF draws to a close Saturday night with the gala world premiere of
martial arts master Yuen Woo-ping’s “Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy”, a branch
off from the franchise of Hong Kong-produced box office hits which were
centred around the life of the man famous for teaching Bruce Lee.
This time the story focuses on one of the men Ip Man fought, played in the
film by rising martial arts star Max Zhang who must face off against an evil
drug lord played by Hollywood’s David Bautista (“Guardians of the Galaxy”),
among others.
It will be the first time in its 23-year history that BIFF has brought the
curtain down with a martial arts or action film. It is a fitting tribute to
the 73-year-old Yuen, the man who added the action to the likes of Oscar-
winner “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), and both “The Matrix” and
“Kill Bill” franchises.
“It is a great honour,” said Yuen after a press preview screening of the
film. “Film has always been my life. I think that martial arts films are full
of humanity and I hope to share that with the world.”
The Busan festival will by its close on Saturday night have screened 324
films from 79 countries across its varied programmes — including 115 world
premieres — and just over 195,000 people attended over the ten days, a boost
for organisers who came in to this year’s event having shrugged off a few
years of political pressure and controversy.
It all started in 2014 with the screening of a documentary about the Sewol
ferry disaster of that year — which resulted in the deaths of more than 300
people.
It was critical of the then government and both funding cuts and sackings
followed its screening but the air has now cleared under the government of
President Moon Jae-in.