(LEAD) Taiwanese film to open Busan film festival

(LEAD) Taiwanese film to open Busan film festival
(ATTN: UPDATES with quotes from news conference in paras 9-10; RECASTS lead with full name of Taiwanese director; ADDES director's name in 7th para)

SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- "Paradise in Service," a movie by acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker Chen-Zer Doze Niu, will open the annual international film festival set to kick off in South Korea's largest port city of Busan next month, organizers said Tuesday.

The 19th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) is scheduled to be held in seven cinemas in Busan on Oct. 2-11, featuring 314 films from 79 countries around the world.

"Paradise in Service" follows the adventure of a boy who serves his military service on the Taiwanese island of Kinmen, often seen as the most dangerous military base in the 1960s and 70s because of its geographical proximity to China.

It carries messages of love and sympathy but also portrays the pain of family members living separately in mainland China and Taiwan, the oppressive military culture and other features of the Taiwanese society of that era.

The festival's executive programmer, Kim Ji-seok, said during a news conference in Busan that the film also has much to say to the Korean society still suffering from inter-Korean division and violence in military barracks.

"It is only the fourth film by the Taiwanese actor-turned-director but is worth enough to make us expect the emergence of a filmmaker who will represent Asia, not merely his home country," Kim said.

"Gangster Pay Day," a Hong Kong action flick directed by Chinese filmmaker Lee Bo-cheung that mixes comedy and melodrama, will close the festival on Oct. 11, according to the organizers.

Founded in 1996, the BIFF has grown into one of Asia's largest film festivals.

The number of movies to be screened in BIFF this year is 15 more than last year's 299. They include films from Bangladesh and Lebanon, countries whose filmmakers have never been invited before, according to the organizers.

"This year, we discovered a variety of films from various countries to clearly differentiate (BIFF) from other film festivals," Lee Yong-kwan, the festival director, said during a news conference held in Seoul later in the day.

Among the international guests to attend the festival are Chinese filmmakers Ann Hui, Peter Chan, and Zhang Yimou, Hungarian director Bela Tarr and Chinese actress Tang Wei. Among Koreans, directors Bong Joon-ho and Im Kwon-taek, actor Ahn Sung-ki and actress Moon So-ri will visit Busan for the festival, organizers said.

sshim@yna.co.kr
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