Asian-produced teen and coming-of-age films will be the focus of a special section at this year’s Busan International Film Festival which is heading for its 29 edition in October.
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With 10 titles, the section comprises a mix of notable recent productions, such as Malaysian body horror and self-discovery title “Tiger Stripes,” and a pair of world premieres.
In addition to “Tiger Stripes,” which won the Grand Prix Prize in Critics Week at Cannes in 2023, was selected as Malaysia’s Oscar contender only to be cut by local censors, the selection includes: “City of Wind,” winner of the Orizzonti Award for best actor at Venice last year; Okuyama Hiroshi’s “My Sunshine,” from this year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard section; Sora Neo’s “Happyend,” which will play at Venice next month’; Shuchi Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls,” winner of the audience awards at Sundance in January; and “Fishbone,” which won a screenwriting prize at June’s Shanghai International Film Festival.
The two premieres are: “The Uniform,” a story of students who share the same desk, one in the daytime, one at night, by Taiwan’s Chuang Ching-shen; and “Water Can Go Anywhere,” a story of youngsters who have moved to a big city in search of employment, directed by China’s Fang Liang.
This year’s ‘Special Program in Focus’ was inspired by the fact that many exceptional teen coming-of-age films have been produced in Asia recently, festival organizers explained. “Taiwan and Japan have traditionally produced excellent coming-of-age films, such as Edward Yang’s ‘A Brighter Summer Day’ (1991), Hou Hsiao Hsien’s ‘The Time to Live and the Time to Die’ (1985), Kore-eda Hirokazu’s ‘Nobody Knows’ (2004), Yamashita Nobuhiro’s ‘Linda Linda Linda’ (2005), Iwai Shunji’s ‘All About Lily Chou-Chou’ (2001), and Kitano Takeshi’s ‘Kids Return’ (1996). But this expertise is expanding amongst other Asian countries.
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“Following the acclaim received by Korean films such as ‘House of Hummingbird’ (2018), ‘The World of Us’ (2016), and ‘Moving On’ (2019), we’re seeing a rapid growth spurt of teenage narratives from various Asian countries, such as ‘Tiger Stripes’ from Malaysia, ‘City of Wind’ from Mongolia, and ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ (2024) from India.
“These stories capture the hearts of audiences by offering a candid perspective at the hidden truths of the world through the eyes of teenagers, where love and sexuality of teen life are uncovered – sometimes brazenly, sometimes nostalgically, but lovable nonetheless to audiences of all ages.
The festival will run Oct 2-11. Its full selection will be announced on Sept. 3.
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