'The film was conceived with the hope that it would help Busan develop into a hub of cinema in Asia'.
The star-studded cast of the Busan Project, an omnibus film project by three directors from Korea, Japan and Thailand, has been released along with the official name of the film.
The film, which is to be called
"Camellia", is being produced by the Pusan International Film Festival, which has become one of the biggest film events in Asia.
While the participating directors were determined when the project was announced, the official title and cast list were up in the air until they were finalized this week.
The cast will include Korean actors
Kang Dong-won,
Song Hye-kyo,
Kim Min-joon and
Seol Kyeong-gu. They will appear alongside renowned actors from Japan and Thailand, the other two countries represented in the project.
"The name of the film is meaningful because the camellia tree and flower represent the city of Busan", a press release from the Pusan International Film Festival said yesterday.
The project, which has a budget of 1.5 billion won, is the film festival's first production. It drew attention last year when it was first announced that directors
Jang Joon-hwan (Korea),
Isao Yukisada (Japan) and
Wisit Sasanatieng (Thailand) would come together to make the film, which will be shot in the southern port city of Busan. "The Busan Project was conceived with the hope that it would help Busan develop into a hub of cinema in Asia, and we thought that it would be great if notable Asian directors could collaborate to make an omnibus film set in Busan with the common theme of love", PIFF director
Kim Dong-ho, who is also the producer of the project, told reporters at the 14th edition of the festival in October.
Kang and Song will star in Korean director Jang's film, "Love for Sale", which tells the story of a couple entwined in a fatal love affair in the midst of a highly industrialized society where even love is put up for sale.
Korean actor
Seol Kyeong-gu and Japanese actress
Yuriko Yoshitaka will star in Japanese director Yukisada's film, "Kamome" ("Seagull"), a fantasy-melodrama depicting the love between a movie director and a young lady in present-day Busan.
Korean actor
Kim Min-joon and Thai-American actor
Michael Shaowanasai will star in the third segment, called "Iron Pussy", by Thai director
Wisit Sasanatieng. The movie, set in Busan in the 1970s, tells the story of a Thai secret agent, a man disguised as a woman, who slips into the seaside city on a mission and falls for a mysterious Korean guy.
Filming will begin today, starting with Jang's film, and producers hope to present the film at the Cannes film festival in May.
By Park Sun-young
