International news in seven languages
Topic
Shashank Walia’s “Birds in the Dark,” about a call center executive whom a police informer mistakes for a suspect, will close the 15th Dharamshala International Film Festival with its India premiere. The festival runs Oct. 29–Nov. 1 at Tibetan Children’s Village in Upper Dharamshala. Walia’s debut feature took two prizes at the Busan International Film […]
More than a million people flocked to Busan to catch a glimpse of the female dusky shark they called Bukangi.
Bukangi the shark became an unlikely sensation after it was spotted in a canal in Busan weeks ago.
“Ria,” Philippines filmmaker Arvin Belarmino’s debut feature about a young woman from the folk-punk scene who takes on a property developer to save her home, has been picked up by international sales company Lights On following its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival. The film picked up the Heart of Eurasia Award after […]
“Paradise Lost,” the new psychological thriller by “Train to Busan” filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho, has been sold to 118 countries and will have its U.S. premiere at the 46th Hawai‘i International Film Festival. It will play in the Spotlight on Korea section on Nov. 1 and 4. CJ ENM, which is handling international sales, said overseas […]
The Busan International Film Festival drew its largest film audience in more than a decade at its 31st edition, which ran Oct. 6–15, while a political firestorm over a Korean box office hit and an Iranian director’s war speech kept politics in the spotlight. These are Variety’s takeaways from the festival and its Asian Contents […]
A homecare nurse whose working day stretches from 12 hours to 72 sits at the center of “Selvi,” the first feature from Tamil filmmaker Sailesh Rathnakumar, which premieres in the Busan International Film Festival’s Vision–Asia section. Anjali Patil plays the title role and produces through her banner Anahat Films. Rathnakumar wrote the screenplay with cinematographer […]
Two villages squabble over which of them holds jurisdiction over the spot where a 15-year-old girl died in “A Chronicle of Minor Things,” the new project from “Shape of Momo” director Tribeny Rai. The working-titled project is part of the Asian Project Market, which runs within the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film […]
The Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) should grow beyond its four days in Busan into a platform that runs all year, director Ellen Y.D. Kim tells Variety. She adds that public money for the market has not grown alongside it. Kim calls the idea ACFM 365. It would be a permanent database and matchmaking […]
Zhang Yimou, president of the Busan International Film Festival’s competition jury, waded into the dispute over historical fact and creative freedom that has engulfed Korean cinema, telling a press conference on Wednesday that history itself is written by people. The question from the press did not name a title, but the debate centers on Hur […]
The South Korean port of Busan says that a stranded shark has become a major tourist draw. It's also named the ocean predator an honorary ambassador to the city.
The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has announced the first-ever Korea visit by Alfonso Cuarón, alongside a dedicated spotlight on nine films from European women and genderqueer filmmakers. Cuarón, who has won the Academy Award for best director twice, for “Gravity” (2013) and “Roma” (2018), also holds the Venice Film Festival’s best screenplay prize […]
