(MENAFN- Arab Times) BUSAN South Korea Oct 2 (Agencies): The 19th Busan International Film Festival opened Thursday with a parade of stars on the red carpet and the screening of a controversial Taiwanese film set against a backdrop of tension with China.
Director Doze Niu fell foul of authorities in Taiwan last year when shooting coming-of-age Cold War drama 'Paradise in Service' after he was accused of attempting to smuggle a Chinese national on to a militarily sensitive site. Niu and Chinese cinematographer Cao Yu have been indicted for the offence and await further action from authorities. Niu has remained tight-lipped about the incident but told AFP it was 'a great honour' to have his film which follows the story of a boy undertaking military service in preparation for a possible war selected to open Asia's biggest film festival. 'There has been a lot of despair and pain in history and I think Chinese people and Korean people share this kind of history and can recognise this part of our history best' said Niu speaking before taking to the red carpet. 'The Chinese people on the mainland and in Taiwan are one and the same and I hope this film will help pave the way for us to find ways to work for a better future.' Festival director Lee Yong-kwan said he hoped the film might lead to 'reconciliation in Asia.' Two of the film's stars Chen Yi-han and Wan Qian arrived in Busan to learn they had both been nominated in the best supporting actress category at November's Golden Horse Awards considered to be Chinese cinema's version of the Oscars. The film was screened in front of a star-studded opening night crowd that featured Asian A-listers Ken Watanabe Tang Wei ('Lust Caution') Zhang Yimou ('Hero') and Tadanobu Asano as well as Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi ('A Separation') and fellow art-house favourites Bela Tarr and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Hong Kong director Ann Hui whose feature about Chinese author Xiao Hong titled 'The Golden Era' is screening here was on hand to accept the festival's Asian Filmmaker of the Year award. Workers had been toiling overnight to ready the sprawling Busan Cinema Centre for Thursday's opening ceremony while down on Haeundae Beach the setting for many of the festival's public events sand barriers continued to be dug up with one eye on the progress of Typhoon Phanfone which is currently tracking towards the region. Much attention in the lead up to the 10-day festival was focused on Monday's sold-out world premiere of the Sewol ferry disaster documentary 'Diving Bell' but festival director Lee yesterday refused to discuss the film. The 85-minute production raises questions about the handling of rescue attempts during April's disaster which claimed the lives of more than 300 people including 250 school children. The diving bell of the title was a piece of specialised equipment that was drafted in for the widely-criticised rescue and recovery operation but hardly used. Lee last night preferred to shift focus back to a programme boasting more than 300 films including around 100 world premieres drawn from 79 countries. The opening ceremony proved a more demure affair than in previous years. The official said female celebrities had previously received more attention for their revealing dresses. The third year of ceremonies at the BIFF Centre Thursday night was arguably the smoothest yet and the most fun. 'I didn't realize that the atmosphere here was going to be so lively' said Taiwanese director Doze Niu who then introduced the cast of opening night film 'Paradise in Service.' Proceedings overseen by Moon So-ri and Japan's Watanabe Ken were helped by the generally clement weather short speeches and the smooth functioning of the purpose-built festival centre. A volley of fireworks from the building next door was a nice touch. The red carpet parade this year clearly put the accent on elegance rather than sex appeal a steady stream of full-length gowns in ivory white and gold with mostly high neck lines. That was perhaps driven by a new festival policy which dispensed with the presence of dozens of scantily-clad minor celebrities who in previous years had been forced on the festival through trades with talent agencies. Box office share for Korean films to date this year is 51% propelled by hits such as 'Roaring Currents' 'Miss Granny' and 'The Pirates' although the total is down from last year's almost unprecedented 59%. Also: BUSAN: On the eve of the Busan International Film Festival (Oct. 2-11) families of some of the victims of April's Sewol ferry disaster delivered a letter to the mayor of Busan demanding that the festival remove a documentary about the disaster from its lineup. Representatives of some of the families Wednesday hand-delivered a letter of protest to Busan City Hall. They met with mayor Seo Byung-soo and members of the council who form the steering committee for the festival. They called on the city authorities not to allow the festival to hold screenings of 'The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol' a film co-directed by journalist Lee Sang-ho and documentary filmmaker Ahn Hae-ryong. The film focuses specifically on why a particular piece of diving equipment was not used at the time of the rescue and argues that lives were needlessly lost. According to the letter: 'screening the documentary when it only depicts one side would be tantamount to killing the victims and their families twice.' The family representatives said they would consider legal action if the organizing committee refuses to remove the film.
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