Busan PIFF 2008

Colours of Busan during PIFF 2008

PIFF 2008 at Busan was an awesome experience! Was there for 3 days from the 3rd Oct to the 5th. The fact that 3rd Oct was a national holiday helped! PIFF was special for two reasons- my very first film festival experience anywhere and KTX bullet train!

From Suwon, we had taken the Saemaul train to Daejon, that being the nearest place from where we could get the KTX bound for Busan. Getting up very early in the morning is so much easier when I go somewhere! Finding that much excitement during normal weekdays is so tough...the allure of the bed is a trifle difficult!!! Getting to touch 300 kph was something I had been looking forward to for quite some time. I dream of the time when we could take similar facilities for granted in India.

On reaching Busan, my very dependable friend Eugene was there to receive us.
Earlier during the week, had got a booking done at a pension home at Haeundae beach area, since most of the events were being held there. We took the subway to Haeundae station...takes about 45 minutes! A pension home, is more like a hotel room with cooking facilities. The owners were very kind and helpful. The rates pretty decent and facilities were as shown at their site( unlike some other places which show one thing and are something else). Getting to do so much by the Internet is actually so comforting, more so since I am still a Korean language student!

After having a quick lunch, we were out to the beach area to the PIFF village, to get tickets for movies. We were told to book tickets at any of the theatres :( When we reached the nearest theatre, Megabox, I realised my folly of not having booked tickets online. It is never too good to assume too many things, more so when one has not had prior experience. The movies we wanted to watch were all sold out. Finally we got the tickets for the Thai animation movie, The Buddha. My tryst with Buddhism continued!!! It was a well done film. Haven't quite been a fan for animation, I was not sure how great the quality of animation was, but surely it was not bad. And, I did enjoy the movie.

The next morning, the three of us went over to the beach to savour the morning calm!!! Since movies were to begin at 10 am, we assumed that royal blooded souls that we are, we would have people waiting for us with tickets in hand^^ At 9:00, the queue at Megabox was to be seen to believed. And, the cynic in me had thought of queues being seen only in my country! Later, we were to know that had we gone to the theatre Primus, which was farther off, it would have been easier to procure tickets...Since Megabox was walkable from the beach area and many film festival visitors were staying near the beach, Megabox had such a big rush. Finally, due to the enterprising and expedient ways of my friend we could get tickets for Nandita Das' Firaaq. And that day was a kind of disaster...since everything sold out...Had taken a Korean movie's tickets, and 10 minutes into start time, realised that there are no sub-titles....it was sheer luck that we could exchange the tickets and get tickets for the short films later in the evening.

As we were entering the theatre, we saw a petite Nandita Das seated nearby. The abrupt meeting probably shocked me...it took a while to realise who the person sitting was...that is probably something to do with always looking at movie people in the papers and Internet...She was cordial.

For some reason, I was hesitant to snap a picture with her. I am so used to taking pictures...not being clicked. Firaaq is a story well-told, and for a debutante director, Nandita Das has an amazing eye into details. I was particularly impressed that Sanjay Suri, actually had perspiration on his face when he woke up shocked in the middle of night. Only due to the fact that we had a meet-the-director session, all my questions were answered. Else, I would have had mixed feelings for the movie. Getting to know why a director did something in his or her movie makes it easier to appreciate.

Only thing which left me saddened was that the eminent actor of South Indian movies,Nasser, was more an after thought...Could say just two frames-at the start and at the end of the movie. A collosal waste of talent. And, there was nothing in the role which another actor could not have done...anyway that is entirely my opinion since I have seen him in so many movies and have respected his skills.

Was I lucky to bump into Santosh Sivan while leaving the theatre! He was very friendly and talked a bit about his movie Tahaan, which I was desperate to watch. That was a huge disappointment for me...not watching this movie...

In the late evening, we went to watch a series of 4 short movies, each of about 30 minutes. One of them was an Indian one, Udedhbun(UnRavel), a short film made in Bhojpuri by Siddharth Sinha, an almost silent movie, except for a few stray dialogues. I realised I hardly understand movies, despite thinking too highly of my film appreciation skills! Out of the four movies, this was the one I didn't quite like...later I found that it had won the silver bear award at the Berlin Film Festival!!!

The Japanese movie(Gentle Breeze Blowing , Kiichi Tagawa) was metaphorical on wind, the Chinese language movie from HongKong(Mr Right, Benny Lau) was sweet and simple, the Filipino movie(God Only Knows, Mark V. Ryes) cast a negative look on child adoption and Christian influences.

Having learnt my lessons, the next day we decided to watch a Sri Lankan movie, Flowers of the Sky, more so since we could meet the director. We were at the ticket booking area at before 7:30...and were we lucky to find the queue was half of the previous day! Amazed to see Koreans and some foreigners sleeping at the counters ...what craze for tickets. The spirit of the movies!

This time I was over prepared! Since the movie was playing in 3 screens and I was sure that I may not get tickets I had made a priority order choice for the same movie...the girl at the counter mistook it as something else...and I ended up with extra tickets...If plans go a little awry or the situation is a little stressful, I tend to go askew. Anyway...since the tickets could not be exchanged, it was my loss...My friends went out of their way to share the ticket price...

It was a contemporary movie. And well told. The director, Prasanna Vithanage, was so humble and forthright. Also,the fact that he processed all his movies at Chennai, and was inspired by Hindi oldies added to the feeling.

Then, it was time to bid adieu to Busan.

A memorable experience indeed.

Now, Lessons Learnt!!!

1. In Korea, in future events, do as much online reservation as possible. Don't wait till the last moment.

2. Where possible use cash, since it is a huge rush at many places...The double charging ( a mistake by the volunteer at the souvenir shop) on my credit card would not have happened.

3. Have SMS enabled for Credit card transactions. Getting two SMSes would have warned me to get the transaction cancelled!!! How easy to learn lessons after going through trials to have it refunded later!

4. Most important. For vegetarians like me. Cook dishes at home and carry...Freezing and carrying in a ice pack or an insulating container helps so much. Saves so much time to enjoy the festival.


Related LINKS:
http://www.piff.org/eng/index.asp

http://www.haeundaepension.co.kr/