Pusan International Festival: 264 Movies in Nine Days

◇ Selections for the Movie Maniac

▽Midwinter Night’s Dream, 2004, Serbiamontnegro

The movie is set in Siberia, winter of 2004. Upon regaining his liberty, Lazar returns home after ten long years of absence. However, the apartment that he previously lived is now occupied by refugees from Bosnia, Jasna; a single mother who is raising her autistic daughter, Jovana. Lazar could not ignore them and lives together with them since they have no place to go. And, little by little, these three start to develop a special kinship. You can appreciate director Goran Paskaljevic’s sophisticated inquiries into war and family.

▽Antares, 2004, Austria

The subject and theme of this movie is love, which governs each character’s behavior. It tells that passion, jealousy, and violence are all the products of love by showing the lives of Eva, Nicole, and Sonja who live in Vienna.

▽Days of Santiago, 2004, Peru

A 23-year-old soldier, Santiago Roman, returns back to Lima after ending his fight against terrorists and drug smugglers. He is one of the members of “the lost generation” that the incapable Peruvian government produced. What he sees back in Lima is hostility, chaos, and decadence. Roman makes efforts to adjust to a different daily life, but his previous experience as a trained soldier drives him to collide with everything.

▽Turtles Can Fly, 2004, Iran

“Turtles Can Fly” is the first Kurdish movie made by a Kurdish director in the Iranian history of cinema. Upon the news of an impending invasion to Iraq by the U.S., many Iraqis, who were persecuted by Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, rush to the border between Iraq and Turkey; a mutilated boy, Hengo, and a pregnant girl, Agrin, are two of them. A boy called “Satellite” who learns how to survive in the town at the Turkish-Iraqi border, falls in love with Agrin, but she is always contemplating suicide due to the hideous experiences of being raped by soldiers and bearing a unwanted birth.

▽Earth and Ashes, 2004, Afghanistan

Elderly Dastaguir and his grandson, Yacine, sit on the side of the street. A half broken bridge, a dried river, and the dirt-covered roads make up the background surrounding them. Dastaguir is on his way to reach his son, who works in a mine, to tell him of the destruction of their village and deaths of their family due to bombing. “Earth and Ashes” is an allegory on humanity and the human beings facing the atrocities of a war.

◇ Selections for Family

▽The Story of the Weeping Camel, 2003, Germany/Mongolia

In Mongolia’s Gobi desert, a family that makes a living by herding sheep, faces a crisis one day. A mother camel rejects her newborn calf after a painstaking birth. The family summons a traditional musician to coax the camel to take care of the newborn. The reality, drama, and fairy tales harmonize, and this story presents the universal terrain of the heart. Luigi Falomi and Byambasuren Dayaa directed this movie.

▽ Bear Hug•, 2004, Taiwan

A nine-year-old boy Da-jun has divorced parents. He lives with the help of his cousin Yi-Fen. Will Da-jun stand independently in the same way polar bears become independent when they turn two? “Bear Hug” is an animation movie.

▽Butterfly Lovers, 2004, Taiwan

This movie is an animation version of a well-known Chinese legend love story between Chu Ying Tai, a woman disguised as a man, and Lian Shan Bo. In the old Jin Dynasty in China, women were not allowed to receive an education. Chu Ying Tai, who was from a wealthy family, disguises as a man and attends school. She meets humble country boy, Lian Shan Bo, and they fall in love with each other. “Butterfly Lovers” is a Chinese version of “Romeo and Juliet.”

▽ McDull: Prince de la Bun, 2004, Hong Kong

This movie is framed in the eyes of a little pig, McDull, and he tells us of the common folks life in Hong Kong that is filled with joys, sorrows, and hope. McBing, the mother of McDull, always suffers from a shortage of money, and takes care of her son, who is constantly daydreaming. Feeling insecure due to the unstable political situation of the time, she starts to buy U.S. dollars, gold, toilet paper, and some land for her gravesite as well as contracting insurance. She tells McDull about his dad, who is the prince of pineapple bread, McDull accepts the story as the truth, and begins his journey.

▽Homeland, 2004, Indonesia

“Homeland” is an animation that reflects rich Indonesian culture. Bumi survives a rainstorm and persuades people around him to build a Utopian castle. The first helping hand is a giant dragon, followed by the fighting tribe, Bob. Exactly one year later, Bumi succeeds in building the paradise-like castle. Then, he is introduced to traveler Nimo, who later brings seeds of strife to the peaceful town.

Gab-Sik Kim dunanworld@donga.com