Sundance Channel has announced plans for exclusive coverage of the 17th Busan International Film Festival (from 8th to 12th October). In addition to debuting first-ever highlights of the prestigious festival, the network will showcase a line-up of exclusive, award-winning films seen at Busan in recent years. Sundance Channel HD can be seen on Astro b.yond (Channel 438).
Produced by Sundance Channel Global and Active TV, highlights from the festival will include interviews with Asian and international celebrities and filmmakers. Offering viewers a behind-the-scenes peek at one of Asia’s most celebrated film festivals, the highlights will capture the buzz from the red carpet and feature one-on-one interviews along with coverage of the most important films competing at Busan:
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Highlights will air on the network each day, starting 8th October 2012 (Monday).
In addition to airing first-ever highlights from Busan, Sundance Channel will showcase an exclusive line-up of five films that have been seen at the festival in recent years. These include the television world premiere of “I Carried You Home”, which received a nomination at the 16th Busan International Film Festival for the New Currents Award. Nominees for this category are regarded as Asian’s most promising young directors and potential world cinema leaders.
Below is further information on the film premieres throughout the week.
Cole (premieres 8th October at 10pm)
Directed by Carl Bessai, the film follows Cole Chambers (played by Richard De Klerk), a talented young writer with dreams too big for his small town. Cole is Adam Zang’s first feature screenplay, and Bessai also serves as director of photography. Chad Willet won “Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama” at the Leo Awards in 2010 and the film received nominations that year at several other film festivals.
3 Backyards (premieres 9th October at 10pm)
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From writer-director Eric Mendelsohn comes 3 Backyards, the story of three residents of the same suburban town over the course of one seemingly perfect autumn day. Mendelsohn received the Directing Award for the film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it was also nominated for the “Grand Jury Prize”.
Bellflower (premieres 10th October at 10pm)
Written and directed by Evan Glodell, Bellflower follows two friends in California as they venture out into the world to begin their adult lives. The film is Glodell’s first feature-length directorial effort, which draws on many real life events. Glodell also stars in the film opposite Tyler Dawson and Jessie Wiseman, who make their debut in lead roles in a feature film. American film critic Roger Ebert called the debut a “one-of-a-kind filmmaker, a natural driven by wild energy like Tarantino.”
The Bang Bang Club (premieres 11th October at 10pm)
The Bang Bang Club was the name given to four young photographers: Greg Marinovich (Ryan Phillippe), Kevin Carter (Taylor Kitsch), Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach) and Joao Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld), whose photographs captured the final bloody days of white rule in South Africa. The film tells the remarkable and sometimes harrowing story of these young men – and the extraordinary extremes they went to in order to capture their pictures. Directed by Steven Silver (who adapted the screenplay), is also the story of the final demise of apartheid and the birth of a new South Africa.
I Carried You Home (TV world premiere on 12th October at 10pm)
Directed by Tongpong Chantarangkul, the film is a portrait of a contemporary Thai family with two sisters forced to reunite over the death of their mother. Told in an interwoven sequence between the moments leading up to the mother’s death and transporting her body back to her small village, the story focuses on the estranged sisters who have not seen each other for a few years. The film stars Akamsiri Suwannasuk, Apinya Sakuljaroensuk and Torpong Kul-On. Chantarangkul received a nomination at last year’s Busan International Film Festival for the New Currents Award.
For more information, visit the Busan International Film Festival’s website.
