Award-Winning Asian Directors to Headline Busan Cinema Forum

Festival de Cannes Palme d'Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Hong Sang-soo and Bong Joon-ho will take part in the Busan Cinema Forum, which the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will introduce for the first time during its 16th edition in the South Korean port city next month.

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The forum, which organizers say is designed to build a theoretical and academic base to develop the scope and vision of the film industry, will be held on Oct. 10 and during the course of the festival.

Leading French industry magazine Les Cahiers du Cinema will open the forum with a series of seminars and conferences. Among the programs, the three Asian filmmakers will attend the third presentation by the media titled “The Discussion of the Asian Directors supported by Cahiers: The Future of Asian Cinema.”

Weerasethakul, the Thai auteur who won the Palme d’Or at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival with Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Hong, the Korean filmmaker reputed for minimal realism in works such as the award-winning HaHaHa, and Bong, who directed the highest-grossing Korean film The Host (of which the 3D version will be screened during the Busan Festival) will discuss their outlook for the future of Asian cinema.

The forum has also invited top Korean film critics including Jung Sung-il and Huh Mun-young to speak about local films. The event will be held at the Haeundae Grant Hotel Grand Ballroom. The Busan International Film festival runs Oct. 6-14.