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(Yonhap Interview) BIFF director: Time to draw up long-term plan

All News 14:54 October 07, 2015

BUSAN, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- Many actresses come and go. But Kang Soo-youn is one of the rare ones who has remained active after more than 40 years.

This year, she rose to the top post in charge of orchestrating Asia's largest film festival.

"I didn't know it was such a hard job," the co-executive director of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday. "I went through a lot of heartache on opening day. I sighed when I looked out at the sea in Haeundae in the early morning on that rainy and windy day."

Bad weather disrupted flight services linking Seoul with the southern port city of Busan, forcing guests to take KTX bullet trains and drive cars to arrive at the venue of the opening ceremony, the Busan Cinema Center, on Thursday. "My dress also got wet, but I didn't notice because I was so nervous."

But luckily for Kang, the heavens closed just before the opening ceremony, and most of the guests arrived on time, she recalled.

Kang says she's so proud that the festival has hugely grown to its current status, along with the local film industry, over the past 20 years.

"I was so jealous of (movie festivals in other countries) when I went abroad, while the (Busan) festival was still in its infancy," the actress said. "It was the time when people asked if I'm from South Korea or North Korea, when I just said I'm from Korea. I wished that we would also have such film festivals."

For the Korean film scene, it was monumental news when she received the best actress award at the Venice International Film Festival for "The Surrogate Womb" by director Im Kwon-taek in 1987. In 1989, she won best actress in the Moscow International Film Festival for "Come, Come, Come Upward" by the same director.

Now many Korean filmmakers, actors and actresses bring home awards from world film festivals, and some of the world's most talented stars and directors visit Busan every October to promote their films to the world.

"When I received the awards, I didn't know how big they were because I had no experience," she said.

These days, she feels more pleasure whenever good news comes from overseas film festivals than when she received those two awards. "In particular, I became emotional when Jeon Do-yeon won best actress at Cannes."

Kang said it was out of her responsibility as a senior member of the local film industry that she came to accept Busan's offer to work as the festival's co-executive director earlier this year.

She received the offer at the same time the festival's organizing committee and the Busan city government were butting heads over a budget reduction.

"My family and close acquaintances kept me from accepting the offer at first. They were concerned that if I joined the festival at this difficult time, it might destroy everything I have built as an actress," she said. "But I thought my responsibility as an actress would be of help."

She nodded when asked if she thinks she was destined to be an actress.

"Yes, it was destiny because I didn't become an actress out of my own will. It was in my high school days when I seriously began to think about a career."

But acting was her only option after she debuted at age four, she confessed.

"I was fond of movies. I was thrilled to go to cinemas, and it was fun to film scenes," she said. "I liked the process of everyone energetically combining forces to complete one."

Kang dismissed a question on how long she will be the co-executive director, answering, "That's not important."

What matters is setting up a long-term plan, she said, stressing that cultivating new-generation filmmakers and fostering the festival's Asian Film Market as a path to the world market are essential.

"We, most of all, have to safely complete this year's event," Kang said. "And now we're in our 20th year. It's time to start drawing up a long-term plan for the next 20 years."

sshim@yna.co.kr
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