PPP Announces 2007 Film Projects

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP), a project-support market that has been pivotal in the completion of award-winning films from major Asian directors. Now under the umbrella of the Asian Film Market, PPP will take place October 8th –11th, alongside the 12th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), running October 4th to 12th.

Launched in 1998, PPP has sought to discover and support Asian independent films with the most promise. Since then, it has played an important role in introducing directors such as, AOYAMA Shinji, Jafar PANAHI, TSAI Ming-liang, Kim Ki-duk, Hong Sang-soo, Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, and Zhang Lu.

In 2007 more than 200 submissions were received from which 35 project finalists representing 18 countries were selected. Among them are new projects by renowned directors Fruit CHAN (Public Toilet), Bahman GHOBADI (Turtles Can Fly) and WANG Xiaoshuai (Beijing Bicycle). Prominent producers Peter FUDAKOWSKI and Terence CHANG will also participate with their projects. In addition, Taiwanese director TSAI Ming-liang (The Wayward Cloud) will join PPP as a producer this year.

Among Korean directors' projects selected for PPP'07 are Hong Sang-soo's "Night and Day", a film to be shot almost entirely on location in Paris. Kim Tae-sik ("Driving With My Wife's Lover") will bring his sophomore project to PPP. Titled Les Vacances Noires, the film will follow the adventures of a young woman investigating the life of her married lover while he vacations with his family. "Like A Virgin" director Lee Hae-joon presents his next comedy project, "Kim's Island", about a man castaway on an uninhabited island in the Han River in central Seoul. Directors Min Byeong-hoon, Yoon Jong-chan, and PARK Ki-bok will also participate.

Nigel D'Sa (KOFIC)