10 official selections from up-and-coming Asian directors will compete in the New Currents section at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival.
This year’s New Currents features films from Greater China including Somewhere Beyond the Mist by King Wai Cheung that pictures conflict and discord between generations with dramatic incidents. It also attracts attention because it is the first Hong Kong film selected for New Currents in 7 years. Other Chinese films are End of Summer by Zhou Quan that depicts friendship between a boy who loves soccer and an old man who lives in his neighborhood, and One Night on the Wharf by Han Dong portrays a terrifying night that community members had to go through on an excursion. The Last Verse by a Taiwanese director Tseng Ying-Ting illustrates a lyrical drama that traces the transitions of a long-term couple experiencing modern times in Taiwan.
New Currents adds 2 selections from Post-Prodution Fund projects in the Asian Cinema Fund that includes Ashwatthama by Pushpendra Singh, that beautifully captures the anxiety and heart break of a motherless boy told in the limelight of Indian mythology, and Last Child by Shin Dongseok, Choi Mu-seong and Kim Yeo-jin as parents who have ambivalent feelings towards a child who has survived an accident, instead of their own son.
Korean films include Last Child by Shin Dongseok, After My Death by Kim Uiseok and How to Breathe Underwater by Ko Hyunseok, pieces that convincingly tell tragedies in different ways. After My Death is a story about a dead girl and a surviving girl; after the suicide of one girl, a witch hunt follows to find the reason. How to Breathe Underwater shows the tragedies that befall two employees who work for the same company in one day.
In addition, Blockage by Mohsen Gharaei traces the overwhelming chaos that happens to a vicious, despicable man who works as a street vendor control officer, Ajji by Devashish Makhija, shows a strong sense of drama by tracking a grandmother who seeks vengeance for a girl’s rape.
2017 New Currents Selections
After My Death; Kim Uiseok, Korea (World Premiere)
Ajji; Devashish Makhija, India (World Premiere)
Ashwatthama; Pushpendra Singh, India (World Premiere)
Blockage; Mohsen Gharaei, Iran (International Premiere)
End of Summer; Zhou Quan, China (World Premiere)
How to Breathe Underwater; Ko Hyunseok, Korea (World Premiere)
Last Child; Shin Dongseok, Korea (World Premiere)
The Last Verse; Tseng Ying-Ting, Taiwan (International Premiere)
One Night on the Wharf; Han Dong, China (World Premiere)
Somewhere Beyond the Mist; King Wai Cheung, Hong Kong (World Premiere)