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“Abroad” is a Korean movie released in 2023, categorized as Mystery, Thriller and Suspense.

Summary: It’s terrifying to be a stranger in a strange land when the one you love the most disappears.

She Left Me? That’s not Possible!

In “Abroad”, Taemin and his girlfriend, Min-ji, are South Korean tourists who arrive at an airport in Northern Minnesota, USA, very late at night. Unlike major international airports throughout the United States that still have activity any hour of the day, i.e. people moving in and out, this airport had almost nobody! Min-ji had planned out the entire vacation for them. They came to see the Northern Lights.

The vacation did not begin smoothly. Taemin did not feel well and had go to the restroom. Min-ji waited patiently for him and then they both went to the rental car counter together to pick up the car she had reserved for them.

American-made films took two top prizes at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in South Korea, ahead of a slew of Korean and Taiwanese titles that took the lesser prizes.

“The Last Stop in Yuma County,” a crime thriller directed by Francis Galluppi and set around a restaurant in Arizona, won the KRW20 million Bucheon Choice feature award. The jury called it a, “profound exploration of human nature [with] characters traversing the boundary between righteousness and malevolence.”

Jt Mollner was named best director in the same section for his “Strange Darling,” a retro-feel, horror-romance with what the jury called, “an exhilarating and engaging narrative, challenging genre and character stereotypes and subverting implicit bias.”

The awards were presented Friday evening at a closing ceremony at the Bucheon City Hall. The ceremony was followed by a screening of Soi Cheang’s smash hit Hong Kong action film “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.”

Cheang,...

Usually, the concept of big companies firing people en masse (restructuring as they call it) is presented in cinema through the side of the victims. Park Hong-jun, however, based on his personal experience, chose to depict the whole thing from the perspective of the people doing the firing, in an approach that is actually no less dramatic.

Work to Do screened at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema

Kang Jun-hee, assistant manager at Hanyang Heavy Industries, a shipyard company, is assigned to the Human Resources department after working some years in the company, under the suggestion of his higher up. As the shipyard experiences a lack of orders, the creditors push the board of directors to restructure the company and it falls on Hr's hand to convince a number of employees to either transfer or quit under a “favorable” package. Through a number of new ideas of Jun-hee, the...

Presenting a total of 269 films, including 80 world premieres, the 28th edition of the Busan International Film Festival concluded earlier this month, closing out with Andy Lau’s comedy The Movie Emperor. In addition to screenings, the festival hosted talks and master classes, with over 250 guests participating, notably Chow Yun Fat, Luc Besson, Fan Bingbing, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Over 40 countries and more than 900 companies took part in the festival’s adjoining Asian Contents & Film Market section, while special programs addressed the Korean Diaspora and the Renaissance of Indonesian Cinema.

Along with international favorites like Poor Things, The Beast, and Anatomy of a Fall, Biff offered films from Korea, mainland China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, spotlighting emerging filmmakers like Iqbal H. Chowdhury, Chia Chee Sum (Oasis of Now), and Mirlan Abdykalykov (Jiseok award-winner Bride Kidnapping).

Here are five standouts from the crowded schedule:

Work to Do (Park Hong-jun)

With Work to Do,...

The Wrestler, directed by Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Iqbal H. Chowdhury, and September 1923, from Japan’s Tatsuya Mori, picked up the New Currents Awards as Busan International Film Festival wrapped a busy 28th edition on October 13.

Chowdhury’s film tells the story of an eccentric fisherman who learns a traditional form of wrestling to take on the village champion, while September 1923, the debut fiction film of documentary filmmaker Mori, revolves around the massacre that took place after the Great Kanto earthquake 100 years ago.

The Kim Jiseok Award, presented to films in Busan’s Jiseok section, went to Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise, about an Indian couple facing problems in their marriage during a trip to Sri Lanka, and Mirlan Abdykalykov’s Bride Kidnapping, about the widespread practice of forcing women into marriage in Kyrgyzstan.

Busan also launched two new awards, the LG Oled New Currents & Vision Awards, presented to films...

Iqbal H. Chowdhury’s “The Wrestler” and Mori Tatsutya’s “September 1923” were announced joint winners of the New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival.

“The Wrester” “was like a single round match, magically depicting an exciting narrative,” the jury said. “We support the bravery to face the history that had been forgotten,” the jury said of “September 1923.”

In the separate Jiseok competition, open to more experienced Asian filmmakers, the joint winners were Prasanna Vithanage’s “Paradise” and Mirlan Abdykalykov’s “Bride Kidnapping.”

“Vithanage exposes how a corrupt regime ruins this beautiful country by obstructing peace, depriving its citizens of humanity as they corner them into oppression,” said the separate Jiseok jury. Calling “Bride Kidnapping” a “powerful film,” the Jiseok jury said, “This film vividly depicts the prevalent shocking customs in Kyrgyzstan with unforgettable characters and a straightforward narrative.”

The prizes were presented on Friday at a closing...

‘Paradise’ and ‘Bridge Kidnapping’ also take major prizes.

Bangladesh drama The Wrestler and Japanese feature September 1923 have won the top awards at the 28th Busan International Film Festival.

The two titles were named joint winners of Biff’s New Currents competition, which includes first or second features from rising Asian filmmakers.

At a press conference in Busan today (October 13), the festival also revealed Sri Lanka’s Paradise and Kyrgyzstan’s Bride Kidnapping as joint winners of the Kim Jiseok Award, open to more established Asian directors with at least three features to their names.

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