A slew of Korean features will have their World Premiere at the 12th Pusan International Film Festival, which opens October 4 for a 9 day run. A special highlight of the festival is "The Friends", a long-awaited second feature from director
Lee Yeong-jae, whose debut was the endearing classic "
The Harmonium in My Memory" (1999). The Friends is the story of three 6th graders who, curious about death, decide to visit a dying old man.
Films from new voices and recent film school graduates include KIM Sun-hee's "Drawing Paper", her HD feature debut - a coming-of-age story about the members of a girls high school band, and "
Nowhere to Turn" by debut director
Lee Seung-yeong, a similar-themed story of a young musically inclined girl discovering life.
The documentary "
Lineage Of The Voice" follows two boys from very different backgrounds as they develop their talent for the traditional singing practice called pansori. It is directed by
Yeon-ah Paik, who was the editor on Daniel Gordon's "A State of Mind". Continuing the theme of music is documentary Billboard Records by BAE Chang-dong, a memoir revolving around a record shop.
Others world premiere films include gangster-actioner
"Spare", the feature debut of
Lee Seong-han; "
My Song Is... ", a drama of struggling youth, the sophomore effort from "
Five Is Too Many" director
Ahn Seul-gi; "
Hello, Stranger", the second feature by
Kim Dong-hyun, director of
"A Shark" (2005), tells the story of outsiders and social outcasts as their live intersect in Seoul; and "
Milky Way Liberation Front" is the feature debut of award-winning short filmmaker
Yoon Seong-ho, and is a light-hearted tale of a struggling young filmmaker.
Nigel D'Sa (KOFIC)
