BUSAN, Oct 3 — Stars of Asian cinema gathered in the South Korean port city of Busan today for the opening of the region’s biggest film festival, showcasing new talent in a region where box office takings will soon outstrip North America.

The 18^th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will open later today with the world premiere of Bhutanese musical drama “Vara: A Blessing”, a surprise selection that organisers said demonstrated the event’s commitment to unearthing gems of Asian cinema.

The film’s director, Bhutanese lama Khyentse Norbu, chose to miss the festival in favour of a silent mountain retreat, but sent a video message in which he expressed disbelief that his story of an Indian villager who falls for a man of lower caste had been chosen as the opener.

“The festival has always shown so much encouragement to obscure and special films and special filmmakers that are not necessarily known and established,” he said.

More established stars of Asian film will be attending the festival, including Academy Award-nominated Japanese actor Ken Watanabe, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Chinese director Jia Zhangke as well as Hong Kong actor Aaron Kwok and South Korean actress Kang Soo-Yeon.

The event aims to showcase new Asian talent, with more than 300 films to be screened over 10 days, including 95 world premieres.

“Audiences will see and experience the rise and growth of Asian cinema,” festival director Lee Yong-Kwan told AFP, noting an increase in films co-produced across various markets in the festival.

Box office takings in Asia are growing much faster than in North America – up 15 per cent to US$10.4 billion (RM33.2 billion) in 2012, compared to 6 per cent growth in Hollywood’s home region to US$10.8 billion over the same period according to the US-based Motion Picture Association.

Busan will also “look into the future of Korean cinema as well as the cooperation we have with non-Asian regions,” Lee said.

The festival’s New Currents competition offers two prizes of US$30,000 for first- or second-time Asian directors from a shortlist of 12 productions.

Busan’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year award will go to Cambodian director Rithy Panh for preserving his country’s films and audio-visual materials.

The director, who lost his family during the Khmer Rouge genocide, won the Un Certain Regard prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with “The Missing Picture”, in which he retold the turbulent history of Cambodia with elaborate dioramas.

Representing the international film world will be Oscar-winner Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game”) and six-time Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan (“In the Name of the Father”) who are attending the festival in support of a segment on Irish cinema.

The city’s Haeundae beachfront will host events giving fans the chance to interact with stars including Watanabe, along with the veteran Hong Kong actor Jimmy Wang, in Busan for a screening of his martial arts classic “The One-Armed Swordsman” (1967).

Buzz has built around the first screenings of maverick South Korean director Kim Ki-Duk’s ultra-violent and dialogue-free “Moebius”, as well as Bong Joon-Ho’s English language sci-fi thriller “Snowpiercer”, starring Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, which is yet to be screened overseas.

The festival closes on Oct 12 with the world premiere of the Kim Dong-Hyun drama “The Dinner”. — AFP-Relaxnews