Busan International Film Festival unveils 10 New Currents selections

This year New Currents will showcase the works of up-and-coming Asian directors from six countries and regions.

BIFF
The official poster for this year's Busan International Film Festival BIFF

The 22nd Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has chosen the 10 films to compete for its New Currents section, which will be chaired by Hollywood director and producer Oliver Stone.

This year New Currents will showcase the works of up-and-coming Asian directors from six countries and regions.

The 10 selected films are: "After My Death" directed by Kim Uiseok (Korea), "Ajji" by Devashish Makhija (India), "Ashwatthama" by Pushpendra Singh (India), "Blockage" by Mohsen Gharaei (Iran), "End of Summer" by Zhou Quan (China), "How to Breathe Underwater" by Ko Hyunseok (Korea), "Last Child" by Shin Dongseok (Korea), "The Last Verse" by Tseng Ying-Ting (Taiwan), "One Night on the Wharf" by Han Dong (China) and "Summer Beyond the Mist" by King Wai Cheung (Hong Kong).

Works by Mohsen and Tseng will have their international premiere at BIFF while the rest will have world premiere.

According to BIFF, "Beyond the Mist" is the first film to be chosen for New Currents in seven years.

"'End of Summer' by Zhou Quan depicts friendship between a boy who loves soccer and an old man who lives in his neighborhood, and 'One Night on the Wharf' by Han Dong portrays a terrifying night that community members had to go through on an excursion. 'The Last Verse' by a Taiwanese director Tseng Ying-Ting illustrates a lyrical drama that traces the transitions of a long-term couple experiencing modern times in Taiwan," according to the festival.

The BIFF earlier unveiled the jurors that will select the winners in the New Currents category.

Stone, the head juror, is widely known for his works including "Platoon" in 1986 and "Born on the Fourth of July" i 1989, which both won him best director at the Golden Globe Awards and Oscars. His other films include "Salvador," "Wall Street," "W" and "Snowden."

Other jurors in the New Currents section are Iran's Bahman Ghobadi, France's Agnès Godard, the Philippines' Lav Diaz and Korea's Jang Sun-woo.

The BIFF will run from October 12 to 21.