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Asian Film Market debuts in South Korea
2006-10-14
After two nights of fireworks and fanfare, the 11th Pusan International Film Festival takes off its tuxedo and gets down to business Monday with the opening of the inaugural Asian Film Market. And the stakes are pretty high. The festival is hedging its bets that the market will confirm Busan as the heart of soul of the Asian film world. "To continue being the leading Asian film festival, we have to expand our horizons," said Park Kwang-su, director of the Asian Film Market, which runs from October 14-18. "The market will bring together all aspects of the Asian film industry and they can start to work together." The announcement of the establishment of the market was met with heated interest at the end of last year's festival, with reports that it would add an extra 3 million dollars to running costs. It already looks like money well spent. Organisers estimate around 2,000 exhibitors have converged on Busan for the event, which is expected to draw in close to 20,000 patrons, from Hollywood studio representatives looking to buy up films for distribution, to independent film makers looking to pitch their projects, to actors looking to chance upon the role of a lifetime. Park, who is also a film director of some note, and said he was able to draw on personal experience when it came to deciding just what the market would do and for whom. "When I was trying to make [his 1994 hit film] Starry Island, I had to go overseas to find funding. So I knew how hard it was becoming to get films made," said Park. "So first we established the Busan Promotional Plan [in 1998] to support independent Asian film-makers. Now we have established the Asian Film Market - the atmosphere has already existed within the festival to create an official market and industry people had asked us when we would create one." The Asian Film Market is designed to bring all aspects of film-making - and people from all corners of the industry - together in the one place. "The goal is, unlike the American Film Market (held annually in Santa Monica] where only completed films are sold, this is a total market where production, marketing, sales and a talent market are covered," said Park. "We are also hoping to promote joint-production across Asia. We want people to come together to discuss, develop and promote Asian films." Park identified mainland China as one film-making region which would benefit from the market, as it looks to increase it global profile through joint-productions. "Joint productions are a way in to new markets for film-makers," he said. "But sometimes people are not sure how to get things started. And the market will give them the opportunity to do that." The market is hosting a Star Summit where Asian actors - such as guest speaker, Asian-American actor Grace Park from the US television hit Battlestar Galactica - can relate their experiences to each other, and meet producers and directors who are casting. "Chinese actors, for example, might want to work in Korea, but nobody knows them," said Park Kwang-su. "The market here knows only people like Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi. But now the actors have a chance to come and make themselves known." Establishing a profile and looking for funding are among the reasons Busan has this year drawn the likes of film-makers such as Asian American Quentin Lee. Lee has toured the world's film festivals with his independent features Drift and Ethan Mao and has come to the South Korean port city in the hope of getting more projects off the ground. "For Asian film-makers there is nothing really like it,' he said. "It is not at all like the American Film Market. It is very smart in that they are building up an Asian film network. They know they have to unite other regions in the area to be competitive and they are establishing a sort of global network that even includes Asian-American film-makers like me." Lee was taking the chance to get out and establish contacts even before the market opens for business at Busan's Grand Hotel. "Basically here you just hustle," he said. "Even walking down the street here you meet people and bump into people you know and things get started that way." The Pusan International Film Festival has established itself alongside the bustling seaside resort of Haeundae, a fishing and tourism spot best known in South Korea for boasting the nation's longest beach at 1.5 kilometres. And the trickle-down to the local economy has been immense with a procession of luxury hotels being built close to the water and multi-screen cinemas springing up in the area's back streets. "What makes Busan special is that during the festival people are actually in the festival," said Park. "And the city has benefited from this. That's why it is so successful. And it has helped changed people's expectations of films. There is no censorship on what we show, no external pressure on what we show, and people appreciate that." Muzi.com News
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