Souewon Rhee, the program director of Busan International Film Festival, is also one of the South Korean guests of Malatya Film Festival this year. After the screening of “The Way Home”, a panel about South Korean Cinema was held with the participation of Jeong-Hyang Lee and Souewon Rhee.
Jeong-Hyang Lee shared with the audience that she wanted to tell a story about her relationship with her own grandmother. Her grandmother was not mute like the one in the film but the reason she was mute in the film was to show the power of the love of grandmothers. Lee answered questions telling the toughness of being a woman director in those years and of imposing on her own scenario and directing. The box office success of the spectacular film The Way Home had some disadvantages such as producers wanting her to shoot same kind of films afterwards.
Souewon Rhee made a presentation about North Korean cinema after the speech about the film. She highlighted that till the 1980’s, Korean public didn’t like Korean films, they preferred to watch foreign films. She outlined how this tendency changed by the end of 1990’s and how Busan Film Festival is highly significant in the history of Korean cinema.
Souewon Rhee gave some information about the market share of Korean films which has reached more than %45 during the last five years. In 2016, 373 Korean films were produced. She sad Busan Film Festival’s concern will remain continuing to adapt to changing environment in the film industry, trying to suit to the needs of public and the film professionals.
It was also the opening night of the Malatya Film Platform, which launched this year for the first time. 12 films will compete for two awards. In addition to hosting many prominent cinema figures and competitions, the platform also hosts major cinema events like workshops, talk sessions and panels. Sermin Cakmak Aysin, the director of the platform made a little speech about how they were prepared and what they aim. One of the guests of the platform, John Morrissey stated how happy he was being invited to this festival. Another guest, director Tony Kaye made his speech by playing guitar and singing song which he wrote especially for Malatya Film Festival.
The second day of the festival was full with movies from Panorama section, such as “Happy End” by Haneke, “A Man of Integrity” by M. Rasoulof, from National Competition films such as “Sari Sicak/Yellow Heat” by F. Reyhan, “Zer” by K. Oz, and International Competition films such as “Cargo” by G. Coulier.
