Red carpet rolls at new Busan film festival home

Asia’s largest film festival welcomed a parade of stars to a stunning new $140 million home on Thursday, tipped to become the heart of an exciting new era for cinema in the region. "Today, here at the architectural masterpiece that is the Busan Cinema Centre, the 16th Busan International Film Festival is about to spread its wings," said Busan’s Mayor Hur Nam-sik opening the nine-day event. The centre’s massive LED-covered roof -- the showpiece of the 30,000 square-metre complex -- lit up as fireworks decorated the night sky. But the biggest roar of the evening was reserved the Korean stars of the festival’s opening film "Always" -- So Ji-sub and Han Hyo-joo. An online sale of public tickets for the world premiere of their romance about an out-of-luck boxer (So) and a young woman who is going blind (Han), sold out in seven seconds, according to festival organisers. The film’s director Song Il-gon praised the centre, which welcomed 4,000 guests to its vast outdoor screen, as a "landmark" for the region's cinema. "Busan has long played an important role in Korean cinema and in Asian cinema and it now has a building of significance that reflects that role. This is a landmark for cinema," he said. Workers had toiled all night to ensure the complex was ready for its debut and scaffolding was still coming down just hours before the stars were due to arrive. Chinese director and producer Tsui Hark was on hand to collect the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award for a career spanning three decades that has included credits from the gangster classic "A Better Tomorrow" and the ground-breaking fantasy "Zu Warriors". Among those to take to red carpet were Korean idols Song Hye-kyo and Ahn Sung-ki. International A-listers in town for the nine-day include veteran French actress Isabelle Huppert -- who took to the stage alongside former festival director Kim Dong-ho, who had put the plans for the cinema centre into place before retiring last year. Huppert will be joined by French director Luc Besson and Malaysia’s Michelle Yeoh, star of Besson’s latest film, "The Lady", on the life of Myanmar activist Aung San Suu Kyi. Also coming to South Korea’s second city is one of Hollywood’s rising stars, Logan Lerman, promoting the 3D feature "The Three Musketeers". He will be joined by Taiwanese heart-throb Takeshi Kaneshiro and China’s Tang Wei, here to promote the Peter Chan-directed blockbuster "Wu Xia". Director Song, whose opening film "Always" is a romance between an out-of-luck boxer (So) and a young woman who is going blind (Han), said he was "honoured and thrilled" to play his part at the new venue. Festival director Lee Yong-kwan earlier said he was happy that South Korea and the world could see what his team had been working on for the past three years. "Our new centre is a place for films and a place for people," he said. "We are confident it will serve more than the festival but become the home of cinema in Asia." BIFF has lined up 307 films to be screened over nine days, with 135 either world or international premieres, meaning they are screening outside their home nations for the first time. The Busan festival’s major award, New Currents, offers two $30,000 prizes for first or second time Asian filmmakers and has attracted a final field of 13 productions, representing 11 countries. Finalists include a Sri Lanka production that looks at life in a drought-plagued village ("August Drizzle") and a Chinese drama set against the backdrop of the search for missing rock climbers ("Lost in the Mountain"). BIFF has this year raised the prize money for its secondary Flash Forward award for first or second time European filmmakers to $30,000 from $20,000 in an effort to boost ties between Asian and European filmmaking communities. A jury headed by Australian director Gillian Armstrong will judge the 10 contestants. Europe is extensively represented at this year’s festival, with 80 films screening and a large delegation of filmmakers  expected for the Asian Film Market. The festival runs until October 14, when the winners of the New Currents and Flash Forward awards will be announced. Last year’s edition of the festival attracted 200,000 people -- a record for the event.