Gwangju Film Fest to Focus on Asian Cinema
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The 5th Gwangju International Film Festival ( http://www.giff.org ) will screen 170 movies from 33 nations. Titled "Let's Enjoy the Film Festival", the festival will be held from Aug. 26 until Sept. 4.
The opening movie is "Hands in the Hair" starring Guan Zhi-lin, one of China's biggest starts, while "A Stranger of Mine" directed by Kenji Uchida will bring it to a close.
GIFF's most popular "Young Cinema" section will introduce 17 international movies from 11 countries, most of them debut or second films of rising directors. They include Chinese film "Jasmine Women" by Hou Yong and "The Peacock" by Gu Changwei, and German SF film "Vakuum" by Thomas Grampp.
A new "Festival of Festivals" section will show movies that have been screened and awarded at leading international film festivals. In the "Children's Film" section, sports movie "In Orange" and animation "Nutcracker and Mouse King" will be shown.
In other sections, "Nonfiction Cinema" shows documentaries and independent movies, "Citizen's Cinema Scape" popular, mostly Asian, movies, and "Korean Film" domestic movies that have won acclaim overseas.
The festival features a retrospective of the work of Tomu Uchida (1898-1970), a master of Japanese period films. Special programs include "Master Directors in Asia", which will introduce five celebrated Asian directors -- Xie Jin form China, Li Xing from Taiwan, Dang Nhat Minh from Vietnam, Yoji Yamada from Japan and Shin Sang-ok from Korea -- and a "Myanmar Cinema Special Program".
"Korean Short Film", a competitive section, returns after four years to pit some 40 short films by rising Korean directors against one another, while "World Short Film" will introduce mostly European films.
The festival's chief organizer Kim Po-cheon said it will "serve as a flagship for Gwangju, which aims to be Asia's leading cultural city". He expressed hope that the festival, which is developing amid difficult conditions, will draw crowds of film buffs to the city.
The opening movie is "Hands in the Hair" starring Guan Zhi-lin, one of China's biggest starts, while "A Stranger of Mine" directed by Kenji Uchida will bring it to a close.
GIFF's most popular "Young Cinema" section will introduce 17 international movies from 11 countries, most of them debut or second films of rising directors. They include Chinese film "Jasmine Women" by Hou Yong and "The Peacock" by Gu Changwei, and German SF film "Vakuum" by Thomas Grampp.
A new "Festival of Festivals" section will show movies that have been screened and awarded at leading international film festivals. In the "Children's Film" section, sports movie "In Orange" and animation "Nutcracker and Mouse King" will be shown.
In other sections, "Nonfiction Cinema" shows documentaries and independent movies, "Citizen's Cinema Scape" popular, mostly Asian, movies, and "Korean Film" domestic movies that have won acclaim overseas.
The festival features a retrospective of the work of Tomu Uchida (1898-1970), a master of Japanese period films. Special programs include "Master Directors in Asia", which will introduce five celebrated Asian directors -- Xie Jin form China, Li Xing from Taiwan, Dang Nhat Minh from Vietnam, Yoji Yamada from Japan and Shin Sang-ok from Korea -- and a "Myanmar Cinema Special Program".
"Korean Short Film", a competitive section, returns after four years to pit some 40 short films by rising Korean directors against one another, while "World Short Film" will introduce mostly European films.
The festival's chief organizer Kim Po-cheon said it will "serve as a flagship for Gwangju, which aims to be Asia's leading cultural city". He expressed hope that the festival, which is developing amid difficult conditions, will draw crowds of film buffs to the city.
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