[PIFF] Festival Nears Eventful End
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By Kim Tae-jong, Kim Rahn
Staff Reporters
The Pusan International Film Festival will wrap up its nine-day events Friday after the closing film of "Wedding Campaign" and farewell party at Yachting Center in Haeundae.
"So far, we find the festival really successful", Kim Dong-ho, festival director of PIFF, said Wednesday. "This year's event is especially meaningful as it aims to celebrate the success of the past 10 years and prepare for the next 10 years".
Screening a total of 306 films from 73 countries, the most ever, the festival is expected to see more than 200,000 seats filled in total, increased by about 40,000 from last year, according to the organizing committee.
"As well as ordinary guests, many distinguishing film figures from home and abroad also paid a visit to Pusan, which indicates how influential the festival is", Kim told The Korea Times proudly.
Marking its 10th anniversary, the festival has launched ambitious projects this year, which are expected to brighten its future. The projects include the Asian Film Academy (AFA), educational program to help promising Asian filmmakers; the selection of constructing site and model for PIFF Center to serve as the festival venues in 2008; and Busan Film Market which is expected to boost the local and Asian film industry from next year.
As the festival nears the end, many visitors are giving feedback to PIFF from affectionate criticism to praise, especially on the message board of the PIFF's official Web site.
Another visitor praised volunteers, saying they actively helped people. The visitor said on the PIFF Web page, "I asked a volunteer at the entrance of a theater when the guest visit ends. She told me to wait, ran somewhere, then returned, panting, to inform me of details of the time, the list of guests, and even the exit I can use".
A visitor who identified himself as "Mangsinsal" proposed movies in one multiplex theater should begin at different times. "Two or three films start at the same time but there is only one entrance to the screenings, so it is terribly crowded. The films should start at intervals of 20 minutes or so", he said on the PIFF Web site.
Staff Reporters
The Pusan International Film Festival will wrap up its nine-day events Friday after the closing film of "Wedding Campaign" and farewell party at Yachting Center in Haeundae.
"So far, we find the festival really successful", Kim Dong-ho, festival director of PIFF, said Wednesday. "This year's event is especially meaningful as it aims to celebrate the success of the past 10 years and prepare for the next 10 years".
Screening a total of 306 films from 73 countries, the most ever, the festival is expected to see more than 200,000 seats filled in total, increased by about 40,000 from last year, according to the organizing committee.
"As well as ordinary guests, many distinguishing film figures from home and abroad also paid a visit to Pusan, which indicates how influential the festival is", Kim told The Korea Times proudly.
Marking its 10th anniversary, the festival has launched ambitious projects this year, which are expected to brighten its future. The projects include the Asian Film Academy (AFA), educational program to help promising Asian filmmakers; the selection of constructing site and model for PIFF Center to serve as the festival venues in 2008; and Busan Film Market which is expected to boost the local and Asian film industry from next year.
As the festival nears the end, many visitors are giving feedback to PIFF from affectionate criticism to praise, especially on the message board of the PIFF's official Web site.
Another visitor praised volunteers, saying they actively helped people. The visitor said on the PIFF Web page, "I asked a volunteer at the entrance of a theater when the guest visit ends. She told me to wait, ran somewhere, then returned, panting, to inform me of details of the time, the list of guests, and even the exit I can use".
A visitor who identified himself as "Mangsinsal" proposed movies in one multiplex theater should begin at different times. "Two or three films start at the same time but there is only one entrance to the screenings, so it is terribly crowded. The films should start at intervals of 20 minutes or so", he said on the PIFF Web site.
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