Goodbye Beijing, Hello BIFF: A Window Into Asian Cinema
The morning I left Beijing
Arrived at Busan International Film Festival about a week ago. Since arriving, I have yet to go a day without seeing at last two films, averaging about three, maxed out at five. The festival describes itself as promoting "Asianness" in filmmaking. This definition of Asianness extends to the far reaches of the Middle East and down to Polynesia. Expanding my horizons and trying to make heads and tails of film styles and stories I never knew existed before.
Opening night at BIFF
Highlights have been seeing Leopard Do Not Bite, a Sri Lankan film eroticizing and moralizing the death of two lovers by a leopard, a beautifully restored version of the 1956 Indian classic Aparajito: The Unvanquished, and the miraculous synchronicity of an omnibus by seven Singapore filmmakers interpreting the concept of home in a place with so many cultures. I'll be writing festival reports for Slant Magazine. Some screenshots in the meantime, more to come...
