Busan takes a place in the
spotlight By Andray Abrahamian
BUSAN, South Korea - Busan has been in the
throes of entertaining the film world, helping
make its citizens confident in the assertion that
theirs is an increasingly influential "global
city". Come the autumn, they know that Busan is
going to be where the lights, cameras and action
are in the national political drama.
Across from the headquarters of the Busan
International Film Festival (BIFF), a screaming
five-story-high banner proclaims "Welcome to the
Hub of Asian Cinema" - and it's not all hype.
The festival, which started on October 4
and ends on Monday, outdoes film festivals in
Tokyo and even Hong Kong, the lauded center of
Asian filmmaking for so many decades. For all the hubs
that South Korea has
proclaimed itself ready to become - finance,
logistics, news media - BIFF represents a shining
success. It reflects not only a strategic
marketing of the festival and the city, but also
South Korea's growing pop-cultural influence in
the region. It is no coincidence that the rapper
Psy rushed to perform his global hit "Gangnam
Style" at an exclusive show during the opening
weekend.
The festival is housed in the
year-old Busan Cinema Center, a city-block-sized
complex featuring a 4,000-seat outdoor theater,
four indoor screens under an LED-covered roof, a
media center and conference rooms. Other
multiplexes across town join in the programing,
however, ensuring a variety of neighborhoods
participate.
Deals are struck in hotels
all over the city. Various delegations, film
boards and private companies have exclusive
gatherings. Over winings and dinings, the serious
business of distribution, financing and location
deals are all hammered out here.
Celebrities come out in force also:
signing, performing and usually wearing a
once-a-festival dress that gets the Korean
blogosphere fretting about the line between
standard sexiness and immorality. Last year,
actress Oh In-hye's career was made overnight by
such a dress.
There is a reassuringly
populist element, also. Technical workshops and
creative forums take place. The public get heavily
involved and the whole city takes on an
exhilarating energy for the duration of the
festivities. There are all-night showings, music
performances and huge installations along the
beach providing interactive good times. Less fun
is the queuing for tickets that has to be done if
you haven't planned ahead.
Voting for
awards may be an exclusive affair at film
festivals, but in two months, Busan's citizens
will be queuing to exercise their right to cast
ballots for the highest office in the land. It is
here that Busan takes on special significance this
year.
The three leading candidates all
have roots in this city and in South Korean
democracy, regionalism continues to play a strong
role.
Park Geun-hye represents the
conservative Grand National Party. Her late
father, Park Chung-hee, was dictator for 18 years
in the 1960s and 1970s, responsible for the
enrichment of the country's southeast, including
the cities of Busan, Ulsan and Daegu. These three
cities have formed the triangular base upon which
conservative parties have long relied. Park's true
home base is Daegu, but could have been expected
easily to take Busan in previous election cycles.
Moon Jae-in is the Democratic United
Party's candidate. He has been a towering figure
on the left, having been a human-rights lawyer in
Busan for several years, before eventually
ascending to become late president Roh Moo-hyun's
chief of staff. In 1988, he also co-founded the
progressive South Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh.
Ahn Cheol-soo is an independent candidate,
a political neophyte and election-race latecomer,
having announced his presidential bid on September
19. The former physician turned software mogul
turned professor has ridden something of a wave of
popular support, though recently his opponents
have been successful in drawing attention to his
lack of political experience. Still, his relative
youth, dynamic resume and philanthropy (he has
pledged more than US$200 million to charity) have
done much to engage young voters.
He is a
left-leaning candidate and unless Ahn or Moon bows
out, they will cannibalize one another's
campaigns, splitting the progressives. He is also
from Busan, further muddying the city's loyalties.
In perhaps a helpful oversimplification,
some have said the 1997 elections were about
democracy activists versus the old guard: the
citizenry chose Kim Dae-jung, who had spent most
of his adult life fighting that old guard for
democratic reforms. The 2002 elections are said to
be about regionalism, and the Korean left (based
in the southwest) defeated the conservative
southeast to elect Roh Moo-hyun. The next
election, which saw Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak
ascend to the presidency, was about the capital
region versus the provinces. This one, if it
requires a master narrative, could be defined as
being an election of the young generation versus
the old.
The truth is, as with any
election, a multiplicity of narratives interweave
to decide the outcome. It remains a fact that
regionalism will be a factor in in this election
as well. Against candidates from other areas, all
three candidates could expect to take Busan with
relative ease. This year, no one has a clear
advantage.
Meanwhile, the film festival is
not without political content, and perhaps will
even play a role in the election.
Two
films on North Korea are garnering attention. One
is a co-production among North Korea, Britain and
Belgium, Comrade Kim Goes Flying. It is the
story of a miner with aspirations to be a trapeze
artist. A lighthearted fantastical affair, it
attempts to avoid political sloganeering and some
of the more traditional trappings of North Korean
film. Its producers attempted to make it as
apolitical as possible, transplanting
romantic-comedy values into a North Korean
setting.
Our Homeland is another
film related to North Korea that cannot avoid the
political. The Japanese production explores the
dynamics of the pro-North Japanese-Korean
community that once dominated that minority, but
has seen drastic generational changes in recent
years.
Closer to home, the most
provocative and potentially impacting film was the
one chosen to be the festival premiere.
National Security highlighted the torture
of South Korean democracy activist Kim Geun-tae
under Park Chung-hee's government. Electioneering
by the left this year has included the accusation
that Park Geun-hye has lacked sufficient
contrition for the human-rights abuses of her
father: This movie couldn't be a more visceral
reminder of the issue.
At the premiere,
director Chung Ji-young coyly said, "I don't know
how it will influence the presidential elections
but I do hope it does influence the way people
vote."
National Security is - much
to the chagrin of conservatives - slated for
widespread release in December. Just before
Koreans go to the polls.
Andray
Abrahamian is a doctoral candidate at the
University of Ulsan, South Korea.
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