17th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF)

Asia's largest film festival rolls out the red carpet in South Korea on Thursday, offering a window into the region's cinema landscape and a rare screening of a North Korean film.

Organisers of the 17th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) have stressed the importance of the event in terms of promoting Asia's film industry, within which South Korea's booming domestic market is a current bright spot.

Much attention is expected to be focused on North Korea's romantic comedy "Comrade Kim Goes Flying", with its filmmakers having been invited to the screening.

It is the first time such an invitation has been extended to the North and Busan organisers say they are awaiting a reply.

"We are proud to say that we have played our part in the cultural exchange between North and South Korea," festival director Lee Yong-kwan told AFP.

Lee said one of the main aims of the event was to support and introduce to a wider audience lesser-known works and those of smaller production companies from across Asia.

"The likeliness of these films being presented at other internationally prestigious film festivals is low," he said, highlighting the importance of the Busan festival.

To that end, the 10-day event will close with the world premiere of Bangladeshi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's humour-laced drama "Television".

Farooki said the attention his film would attract after being screened at this year's festival would draw global attention to his country's nascent film industry. Last year's event welcomed more than 182,000 film fans.

"I believe it will inspire a whole generation of younger filmmakers to believe in themselves and dream even bigger," the director told AFP.

This year Busan will showcase a special sidebar devoted to Afghani films saved from the Taliban by the Afghanistan National Film Archive, while the Window on Asian Cinema section features 49 films from 11 countries across the region, including 13 world premieres.

The festival, which has previously featured international stars and Academy Award winners including director Oliver Stone and French actress Juliette Binoche, will this year put Asian talent in the spotlight, with Chinese actresses Zhang Ziyi and Tang Wei making appearances.

Forming the backdrop to a festival screening 304 movies from 75 countries is a domestic industry enjoying unprecedented box office returns in what has so far been a stellar year for Korean productions.

The Korean Film Council recently announced around 120 million cinema tickets had been sold across the country by the end of August, a year-on-year rise of around 20 percent.

Art-house maverick Kim Ki-duk became the first Korean to win the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice film festival with his tale of revenge "Pieta" earlier this month, and local films have topped box office charts.

Among them is casino caper "The Thieves", the second most successful Korean film in history, with admissions of more than 12.5 million.

A joint Korean and Chinese production directed by Choi Dong-Hun, it boasts Korean stars Lee Jung-jae and Jun Ji-hyun and will screen as part of the Open Cinema programme at BIFF.

Festival organiser Lee said one of the main roles of the festival was to support and promote such collaborations within the Asian film industry through its market and film fund programmes.

"This is where BIFF distinguishes itself from American film festivals or film markets where the focus is on worldwide cinema," he said.

The main competition of the event -- the New Currents Award for debut or second-time Asian filmmakers -- offers two prizes of $30,000 and has this year attracted a field of 10 productions from eight countries, including Lebanon and Iraq.

The winner will be announced on October 14, the last day of the event.

This year's Asian Filmmaker of the Year award will go to the Japanese veteran Koji Wakamatsu, 72, who produced the controversial "In The Realm of the Senses" (1976) and has directed three films in the past 12 months.

BIFF begins Thursday with the world premiere of the Hong Kong thriller "Cold War" starring Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Ka-fai.

The 17th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) held a red carpet opening on October 4th.

The BIFF red carpet event was full of star studded names such as Lee Yeon Hee Kim Sa Rang, Jung Woo Sung,Bae So Eun, Ji Sung, Kim Ah Joong, Lee Si Eon, Jang Dong Gun, Im Chang Jung, Park Shin Hye, Moon Geun Young, Hwangwoo Seul Hye, Kim Sung Gyun, Kwang Do Won, Lee Jung Jin,Jo Min Soo, Yoo Ji Tae, Kim Hyo Jin, Goo Hye Sun, Lee Byung Hun, Yoon Gye Sang, Kang Soo Yeon, Director Im Kwon Taek, Jeon Hye Bin, Jo Yeo Jung, Kim Min Jong, Kang Ye Won,Kim Sun Ah, Han Ga In, Jaejoong, and Suzy. Foreign celebrities such as Teresa Palmer, Cecilia Cheung, Tony Leung, Aaron Kwok were also in attendance.

An Sung Ki and Tang Wei were MCs for the event. Tang Wei is the first foreign celebrity to emcee in the history of the BIFF. BIFF will run until the 13th, playing 304 movies from 75 countries on 75 screens.

Check out the red carpet photos below!

Kim Seon-ah

Yoo Ji-tae and Kim Hyo-jin

Woori

Tang Wei

Suzy

Soy

Son Eun-seo

So Yoo-jin

Sim I-yeong

Sa Hee

Park Si-yeon

Park Sin-hye

Park Ji-yeong

Park Hyo-joo

Park Ha-seon

Oh Yeon-seo

Oh In-hye

Nam Gyoo-ri

Nam Bo-ra

Moon So-ri

Moon Geun-yeong

Lee Yoon-ji

Lee Yeon-hee

Lee Jeong-hyeon

Lee Honey

Koo Hye-seon

Ko Ah-ra

Kim Yeong-kwang and Goo Eun-ae

Kim Sa-rang

Kim Ah-joong

Kang Ye-won

Kang So-ra

Jo Yeo-jeong

Ji Seong-won

Han Hye-jin

Cecilia Cheung

The Gents

Kang Ji-hwan, scrumptious in a white bow tie. 

Kim Nam-gilis back! And lookin’ as good as ever. His first directorial work will be featured at BIFF. 

Kim Kang-woo, lookin’ sharp. I’m sorry your Haeundae Loverswas a flop. 

Kim Min-jong, you are miiiighty fine tonight.

Park Shi-hoo, why do you always look like a vampire in pictures? This one’s not as bad as the other ones I saw of you — you can thank me later.

Park Hee-soon, when am I gonna hear wedding bells? Your girlfriend asked me to ask you~~

Yoon Kye-sang, you like your scruff, too? I’ll let it pass this time, but clean-shaven is defs better on you.

Lee Byung-hun, are you really for seriously truly not planning a January wedding?

Don’t try to fob off wedding rumors using Ryu Seung-ryong. The man’s too nice to be used so shamelessly like that.

Sob. Lee Je-hoon, we will miss you terribly! I promise to be waiting faithfully for you to come back from military service. 

Lee Jong-seok, I laud your daring.

Jung Woo-sung, ever the gentleman. Lee Ji-ah did a number on you, you poor thing. I hope you find someone twenty bajillion times more wonderful. 

Awww, Jo Sung-ha, why so cute?!

The Ladies

Kang So-ra, I love you.

But this dress is kinda…

Kang Yeh-won. We’ve seen this dress amajillion times, but you look so excited that I don’t have the heart to rain on your parade.

Okay, Go Ara, now THIS I can’t help but put in my Bad pile. Sorry. Try again next time.

I like the up-do, though~

Another sea-foam-y creation, but Kim Sarang is gorgeous.

Kim Sun-ah, as chic as ever. Girlfriend, is there anything you can’t pull off?Love it love it love it.

Kim Yoon-hye, who’s in a new movie with Kim Soo-ro, Kang Yeh-won, and Lee Je-hoon. Like the shoulder accent but the rest is kinda blah.

Kim Ji-young. Very different. Very… interesting.

Sigh.  Goo Hye-sun, can you ever just wear a DRESS?! Like all the other actresses?! I know you’re a director, too, but please, for me. And all your other fans waiting to see you dolled up.

Nam Gyu-ri in white, as usual. The dress itself is pretty cute, but I ain’t a huge fan of the mini-skirt-under-layer with a see-through-over-layer thing. Seems to be the popular choice tonight, though. You’ll see.

Nam Bo-ra just glooows tonight, and she’s absolutely adorable. Love her shimmering dress – it SO suits her perfectly.

Ryu Hyun-kyung pulling off simple but classic. I think the empire waist detail saves the dress, and she was smart to stay classy with the earrings, too.

Now THIS is what I’m talking about. Moon Geun-young looks absolutely GORGEOUS in a simple yet elegant blue gown. The mini-skirt-under-layer thing I was talking about totes works here, and I just can’t get enough of how good she looks. I can’t believe some journalists were criticizing her for gaining weight — she looks GREAT here, SO much better than that scarily thin look she was sporting the last couple years. Shame on you, journalists.

Moon Jeong-hee, in a somewhat boring style (a little too structured), but I love the color.  I’m a bit partial to purples~

Nearly the same color as Moon Jeong-hee’s, but Honey Lee looks downright scary — she lost waaay too much weight.

One of my favs of the night. Park Shi-yeon looks AMAZING in a gorgeous black dress that allows her to flaunt her statuesque beauty. Love the makeup, too. Gawsh, I just can’t get enough of it.

Park Shin-hye, straddling the fine line between cutie and grown-up.

Korea’s latest sweetheart the past few years: Suzy.  Despite the sheer overlayer thing going on again, I give the cuuute dress my stamp of approval.

Normally, I like fusion hanbok dresses, but this one isn’t all that flattering on So-yi.

Not a huge fan of the dress (color or cut), but Park Yeh-jin is a sweetie.  And I want her peep-toes. Another weakness of mine.Psst!  I gave your boyfriend the hint hint about the wedding.  You’re welcome.

Yet another sheer overskirt, but Park Ha-sun is always darling.

Park Hyo-joo looks so pretty here, all dolled up — verrry different from the one-jacket-ensemble she wore during her awesome stint as Detective Jo on The Chaser. She’s so cute!

There’s always a ‘scandal’-maker at every red carpet event, and Bae So-eun seems to have elected herself as the one this time. Everyone is talking about the barely-there dress, and she seems to be enjoying it to the max.  Seriously, she has that same facial expression in every shot.

Lace is definitely ‘in’ this season, and Sa-hee shows us why. The dress is demure, but elegant. Me want for myself in a different color.

Son Eun-seo defs pulled off this dress. I wonder if boyfriend Choi Jin-hyuk had any say in it~~ ^^

Shim Yi-young’s dress isn’t all that to my liking, but her hairpiece is so cute I couldn’t resist sharing.

I don’t know what it is about Eom Ji-won’sdress, but I just like it. Love the shawl(?), too.

And I love this photo. Gorgeous.

Oh Yeon-seo is enjoying quite the popularity these days after her hit drama and newly ‘married’ status on We Got Married. She and Lee Joon are both seriously 4D and totes perfect for one another.

Lee Yeon-hee. Simple but elegant. The gold belt was defs a good choice.

Cutie cuuutie Lee Yoon-ji, flashing her brilliant smile. This girl is SO toned. I need to feed you a bit.

Jeon Hye-bin, in a figure-flattering dress. I am totes seeing her in a new light after The Law of the Jungle.

Jo Yeo-jung, in a wine-colored creation. Not a big fan of the dress, but the black tulle train is an interesting accent.

The never-aging Han Ga-in. Seriously, what do you eat?

Han Hye-jin, why oh why oh why?! You’re SUCH a cutie, sweetie, and gorgeous to boot. Who dressed you and attached that horrible hair extension?! Imma gonna hunt them down.

Hwang-woo Seul-hye. The dress is nice enough, but I like her heart-shaped clutch.

And now, The Couples

Kim Go-eun and Lee Hee-joon, who for seriously look like they’re walking down the aisle thanks to Kim Go-eun’s dress.

Kim Ah-joong and Ji Sung

I for seriously love her dress and the streak of silver-gray she added to her hair. She ain’t afraid to flaunt it.

Ji Sung, I agree. Your curly hair is the best.

So Yoo-jin and Bae Soo-bin (where have you beeeen?!).

Girlfriend, you’re driving me nuts on CLWY, but I do love the pink.

Song Ji-hyo and Kim Jae-joong. Why so serious, you two?

Such a disconnect between this picture and your hilarious antics on Running Man (especially the Chuseok episode!!).

You aaaalmost look like… I can’t believe I’m gonna say this… R. Pat, as Will Ferrel calls him. ^^

Yeh Ji-won and Kim Tae-woo. Yeh Ji-won, you were awesome on DWTS. And Kim Tae-woo, your bro is for seriously creepin’ me out in Nice Guy.

Choi Kang-hee and Bong Tae-kyu.

Jo Min-soo and Lee Jung-jin are absolutely adorable. Their film Pietawon the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, making it the first Korean film to win the top prize at one of the major international film festivals (Venice, Cannes, and Berlin).

Because Pieta won the Golden Lion, and there are stinky rules about what kinds of awards can be given to the same film, Jo Min-soo wasn’t awarded the Best Actress Award. The judges, though, revealed that they unanimously voted for her to receive it. I’m telling you, this woman is AMAZING and I am SO happy for her.

And, of course, I’m elated that Lee Jung-jin finally got a big break!

Real-life married couple Kim Hyo-jin and Yoo Ji-tae. I for seriously LOVE these two. They are SOOO cute together (I don’t think I’ve ever seen him let go of her hand), and Yoo Ji-tae is looking eeeeven better these days as a married man.Kim Hyo-jin’s dress was another fav tonight.

And last but certainly not least, the MC’s of the 17th Annual Busan International Film Festival: gorgeous Tang Wei and charismatic Ahn Sung-ki.

Hope you enjoyed all the pretty!!  Who were your picks for best and worst dressed?  

Credits: as labeled