Teen and coming-of-age films made in Asia will be the focus of a special section at this year’s Busan International Film Festival, which heads into its 29th edition in October.
With ten titles, the category features a mix of notable recent productions such as Malaysian body horror and self-discovery title „Tiger Stripes” and a pair of world premieres.
In addition to „Tiger Stripes,” which won the Grand Prix prize at the 2023 Cannes Critics’ Week, was selected as Malaysia’s Oscar contender to be cut by local censors, the selection includes: „City of Wind,” Orisonti’s winner of last year’s best actor award at Venice; Okuyama Hiroshi’s “My Sunshine,” from this year’s Cannes Un Certain Record category; Sora Neo’s „Happy End” Will Play Venice Next Month’; Suzy Dalati’s “Girls Will Be Girls,” which won the Audience Awards at Sundance in January; and “Fishbone,” which won the screenplay prize at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June.
Two premieres: „The Uniform,” by Taiwan’s Chuang Ching-shen, a story about students who share a desk, one during the day and one at night; Directed by China’s Fang Liang, „Water Can Go Anywhere” is the story of a young man who moves to a big city in search of work.
Festival organizers explained that this year’s 'Special Program in Focus’ was inspired by the recent production of exceptional teen films in Asia. „Taiwan and Japan have traditionally produced great coming-of-age films such as Edward Yang’s 'A Brighter Summer Day’ (1991), Hu Xiao Hsien’s 'The Time to Live and the Time to Die’ (1985), Kore-eda. Hirokazu’s 'Noyadi Knows’ ( 2004), Yamashita Nobuhiro’s 'Linda Linda Linda’ (2005), Iwai Shunji’s 'All About Lily Chou-chou’ (2001), and Kitano Takeshi’s 'Kids Return’ (1996).
Following the acclaim of Korean films such as 'House of Hummingbird’ (2018), 'The World of Us’ (2016), and 'Moving On’ (2019), we are witnessing a rapid growth of teenage stories. Various Asian countries like 'Tiger Stripes’ from Malaysia, 'City of Wind’ from Mongolia and 'Girls Will Be Girls’ (2024) from India.
„These stories capture the hearts of the audience by providing an honest perspective on the hidden realities of the world through the eyes of teenagers, where the romance and sexuality of teenage life is revealed – sometimes shamelessly, sometimes wistfully, but endearing to all ages. .
The festival will be held from October 2 to 11. Its full selection will be announced on September 3.