Remaining notes and photos from Busan International Film Festival 2015

All right, I'm so lagging behind that even though I'm already in Tokyo for the Tokyo International Film Festival, I'm still trying to wrap up my Busan Film Fest experience.

Okay, this will be my last post about this year's Busan Film Fest!

Woo Ming JIn's RETURN TO NOSTALGIA @ Busan International Film Festival 2015 + its media coverage

Been back from Busan for more than a week, and immediately dove into the production of a music video (well, if you are still following this blog, or my Instagram feed, you'll see the photos), hence the lack of recaps.

On the 4th of October, Ming Jin's documentary RETURN TO NOSTALGIA finally had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival.

RETURN TO NOSTALGIA is part of the POWER OF ASIAN CINEMA program, in commemoration with the 20th anniversary of the Busan Film Fest, 10 Asian directors were each commissioned to make a 50-minute documentary about their own cinematic history.

Ming Jin chose to make a film about the search for SERUAN MERDEKA, the very first post-war Malay film which is missing.

Before the screening of RETURN TO NOSTALGIA, however, I went to catch the first two volumes of Miguel Gomes' sprawling three-part ARABIAN NIGHTS. The films began with a disclaimer that they are not adaptations of the novel (more like a film that's very loosely inspired by the novel)! Structurally they are similar, they are mostly tales of modern-day Portugal, being told by Scheherazade to the Sultan. So there are least 3-4 different stories of different genres in each film, done in very different styles.


If it weren't for the RETURN TO NOSTALGIA screening, we would have been able to finish Volume 3! (or go to the gala screening of Hirokazu Koreeda's OUR SISTER) Never have I felt so sad during a screening of my own production.

I jest.

The screening of RETURN TO NOSTALGIA went on pretty smoothly. It was good to present a small glimpse of our country's cinema history to a foreign land.

The local media had kindly covered this documentary since then.

Thanks, Malay Mail Online, for sharing the news! Yup, RETURN TO NOSTALGIA by Woo Ming Jin will have its world premiere...

Posted by Edmund Yeo on Saturday, October 3, 2015

Posted by Edmund Yeo on Monday, October 5, 2015

感恩中国报的报导。 希望有那么的一天能与马来西亚的观众们分享《眷念重来 RETURN TO NOSTALGIA》。

Posted by Edmund Yeo on Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Many thanks to THE STAR for covering Woo Ming Jin's RETURN TO NOSTALGIA. It's the documentary that was in Busan last...

Posted by Edmund Yeo on Monday, October 12, 2015

Busan International Film Festival 2015 Day 2 recap: Experiencing the past, present and future of Taiwanese cinema

Oct 3, Ying Xian (producer) and I were invited to eFM 90.5, Busan's one and only English radio station, to talk about RETURN OF NOSTALGIA. Ming Jin was only going to arrive a day after, so we had to handle promotional duties :)

Whoa, I was on a radio show in Busan! We are talking about Woo Ming Jin's RETURN TO NOSTALGIA, which is the only Malaysian film screening in Busan Film Fest this year!
Posted by Edmund Yeo on Friday, October 2, 2015

Right after that, I got to catch the restored print of Edward Yang's monumental masterpiece BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY.

I didn't expect this but I finally managed to catch Edward Yang's masterpiece BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY on the big screen just...
Posted by Edmund Yeo on Saturday, October 3, 2015

Yes, I was absolutely excited to catch the film in its full glory, after having already watched it a few times in low-res. So many details missed. Prior to this screening, I already believed that BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY is one of the greatest films of all time, yet improbably, the big screen made me love the film even more. Now I will share the obligatory film excerpts.

Busan International Film Festival 2015 Day 1: Catching up with the Cannes Films

I'm at Busan for the Busan International Film Festival. Ming Jin's documentary RETURN TO NOSTALGIA, which I served as executive producer (and final editor, and colorist, among others, as usual), is going to have its world premiere tonight.

Thanks, Malay Mail Online, for sharing the news! Yup, RETURN TO NOSTALGIA by Woo Ming Jin will have its world premiere...
Posted by Edmund Yeo on Saturday, October 3, 2015

So, today's my third day. It wasn't exactly easy to get to Busan this year. On the day of the opening ceremony, there was a typhoon, and our plane was unable to land, so we ended up in Incheon Airport for a while.

Urgh, arrived at Busan. Finally. Flight stopped by at Incheon for a couple of hours because of bad weather. Looking forward to another great festival!!
Posted by Edmund Yeo on Thursday, October 1, 2015

The next day, I decided to catch up with the Cannes films. The first I saw was Jacques Audiard's Palme D'Or winner, DHEEPAN.