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The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has unveiled the lineup and schedule for three of its fan-facing programs: Open Talk, Outdoor Stage Greeting and Talk-to-Talk. Held at the Busan Cinema Center Roof Theater
and the HANMAC Smooooth Lounge, the sessions give audiences a chance to meet directors and cast members from a wide range of Korean and international selections.
Open Talk opens Oct. 7 with director Lee Chang-dong and stars Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong for “Possible Love,” followed by “Cattle Run,” bringing director Kim Ji-hyun together with Ryu Seung-ryong, Park Hae-jun, Ong Seong-wu and Lee Sang-hee, and “The Table: Day and Night,” pairing director Kim Jong-kwan with Kim Min-ha, Joo Jong-hyuk, Han Sun-hwa, Shim Eun-kyung, Jeon So-young and Kim Dong-hwi.
On Oct. 8, “Sapiens” brings out director Lee Hu-bin with Jung Sung-il, You Chea-myung and Ryu Hyunkyung, while “Dead-End Job” pairs director Kim Da-min with Kim Min-ha and Choi Hyun-wook. Oct. 9 sessions include “The Blue Road,” with director Han Jun-hee alongside Son Sukku, Nagayama Eita and Kim Shin-rok; “Ugly Duckling Ms. Maeng,” with director Lee Yong-jae and stars Lee Sun-bin, You Chea-myung, Jun Suk-ho and Kim Young-min; and “The Sorry Generation,” with director Kim Sung-yoon and actors Jung Jae-young, Kim Joo-ryoung, Lee Yi-kyung and Kim Ah-young.
A “BIFF Discoveries: Rising New Talents” session on Oct. 10 features Jeon So-young and Kim Dong-hwi from “The Table: Day and Night” alongside Sim Su-bin, who appears in both “The Birds” and “The World Before.” The program closes Oct. 13 with Isabelle Huppert and director Marc Fitoussi discussing their collaboration on “All About Corinne.”
Outdoor Stage Greeting runs Oct. 7 through Oct. 11 and covers dozens of titles. On Oct. 7, director Stephanie Ahn appears with Moon Choi and Son Sukku for “Bedford Park”; director Fujii Michihito and actor Yokohama Ryusei present “You, Like a Star”; director Sato Sakichi brings Sawajiri Erika and Maruyama Ryuhei for “The Chain of Roses”; director Hur Jin-ho appears with Yoo Hai-jin, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho for “The Assassin(s)”; director Feng-I Fiona Roan brings Shuhua Yeh, Xuan Chen and Kent Tsai for “Happily Ever After”; director Woo Min-ho appears with Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung and Woo Do-hwan for “Made In Korea” Season 2; and director Kore-eda Hirokazu presents “Look Back” with Deguchi Natsuki, Makita Aju, Nanase Furi and Okada Rokka.
Oct. 8 brings director July Jung with Kim Doyeon and Choi Wonyoung for “Dora”; director Kim Joung-hoon with Kim Jae-won, Cho Yi-hyun, Kang You-seok and Bae Gang-hee for “Final Interview”; a second “BIFF Discoveries” session featuring Kim Doyeon from “Dora”; director Hong Sung-min with Jung Sung-il and Park Ji-hyun for “Sinner”; director Song Il-gon with Kim Hye-ja, Park Seo-kyung, Choi Ju-eun, Moon Seong-hyun and Lee Seyoung for “Still Shining”; director Kamila Andini and producer Ifa Isfansyah with Putri Marino, Christine Hakim and Arya Saloka for “Four Seasons in Java”; director Takemura Kentaro with Michieda Shunsuke and Anzai Seira for “In the Clear Moonlit Dusk”; and actors Michelle Mao and Jin Ha for “zi.”
Oct. 9 features director Yeon Sang-ho with Kim Hyun-joo for “Paradise Lost”; director Wang I-fan with Fukushi Sota and Han Ning for “The Scar-Faced Cat: Way of Asura”; and director Yoon Dan-bi with Sim Su-bin and Kim Eo-jin for “The World Before.” Oct. 10 brings actors Shin Mina, Ju Jihoon, Lee Jongsuk and Lee Seyoung for “The Remarried Empress,” plus Kwon Haehyo and Park Miso for “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes.”
The section wraps Oct. 11 with an “Italy’s Fearsome New Directors” session pairing “Föa – Once Upon a Future” director Margherita Ferrari and producer Raffaele Perillo with “Deep Blue” director Ernesto Maria Censori, actor Andrea Arcangeli, producer Giorgio Gucci, screenwriter Lorenzo Marinelli and editor Chicchi Tadeucci; “Inherit,” with director Banjong Pisanthanakun and actors Davika Hoorne and Thitiya Jirapornsilp; and a joint stage greeting for Flash Forward section directors Rhys Marc Jones, Jannis Lenz, Fernanda Tovar, Jacqueline Lentzou, Emmanuel Marre, Manuel Wetscher, Margherita Ferrari, Grzegorz Dębowski and Manuela Martelli.
Talk-to-Talk splits between the Roof Theater and the HANMAC Smooooth Lounge. At the Roof Theater on Oct. 10, “Women Directors: Taking the Scene” gathers Margherita Ferrari, Marjan Khosravi, May El-Youkhy, Michelle Zhou, Zainab Entezar, Jacqueline Lentzou and Julie Lecoustre. At the HANMAC Smooooth Lounge, Majid Majidi discusses his career from “Children of Heaven” to “Midday Meal” on Oct. 9, followed by four “Vision Korea” panels on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11 connecting directors and actors from “Things I Left at the Theater,” “Not for You” and “The Flower”; “Earbug,” “Some Detective” and “Nothing Has Happened Yet”; “The Birds,” “Space” and “Cosmic Trace”; and “Baler,” “Beyond Love’s Horizon” and “Full Moon.”
A session titled “Asian Cinema Through Global Eyes” brings together Martine Therouanne of the Vesoul International Festival of Asian Cinema, Sabrina Baracetti of the Udine Far East Film Festival, Jeon Hyejung of the London East Asia Film Festival, Samuel Jamier of the New York Asian Film Festival and Teruoka Sozo of the Osaka Asian Film Festival. Directors Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané appear for “The Hottest Virus of the Year, ‘Jim Queen,'” and the program closes Oct. 13 with Kim Ah-young and Kim Seulki discussing their move from “SNL Korea” to film.
The 31st Busan International Film Festival will run Oct. 6-15 at the Busan Cinema Center and venues throughout Busan, with the 21st Asian Contents & Film Market held Oct. 10-13.
