39th Busan International Short Film Festival – Opening Films

By Asian Film Festival on April 8, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

Four short films will open the Busan International Short Film Festival which will take place from April 27 – May 2, 2022 in Busan, South Korea.

About the festival:
BISFF has established itself as the “Hub of Asian Shorts” by introducing various new short films from around the world every year, while also promoting Korean short films to the world. The purpose of BISFF is to discover and introduce outstanding short films directed around the world. Moreover, BISFF aims to bring the world’s latest and hidden gem-like shorts in the spotlight.

– Opening Films –

**Scams of Online Education** by Mustafa Bin Javed – Pakistan | 2019 – 17 minutes

Much like everywhere else in the last 2 years, university students and professors in Pakistan have had to juggle with the added difficulties posed by Covid-19 and by constantly-changing policies in regards to whether classes and exams should be conducted online, or in-person, or both, or neither…. in this wifi-dependent, anxiety-inducing whirlwind of confusion and frustration, a general impression remains: Nothing hits quite like a well-made documentary born out of necessity and unfairness. (Sébastien Simon)

**The Divers** by Cho Heesoo – South Korea | 2021 – 10 minutes

A stadium is built in Gangnam Station, which has the country’s largest floating population, and runners race continually. This race is bold and awakens our senses. It’s a dive in the sense of plunging into a crowd, and each stride transcends normal life and causes you to contemplate a universal notion. (Kang Byunghwa)

**Quartet #1** by Jonas Mekas – USA | 1991 – 8 minutes

Around 1991, I began to worry about the huge amount of unedited footage that I had on my shelves. I had to do something with it before it began to fade. One idea was to begin to edit it all in the form of quartets. This quartet was my first try in that direction. I was not too happy with it and did not continue the project. Instead, I began working on a much bigger idea which resulted in Jonas Keeps Shooting Around. (Jonas Mekas)

**Winter Cicada** by Jung Sujin – South Korea | 2022 – 27 minutes

A short-term teacher at a specialized high school investigates the death of a student who died at a factory during a field training. Throughout the process, the teacher encounters societal inconsistencies. The film recreates what has been left behind and forgotten in Korea’s industrialized society. The teacher and the student, both from an insignificant background, reenact a cry as if they were in death throes, like a cicada on the dirt floor. They do not have the right to speak, however, because they live in a capitalist society where only the voices of the wealthy and privileged are heard. The film depicts a cruel reality both inside and outside the frame, in which low-class people are treated as numbers rather than people, and their lives and souls are shattered. (Lee Sanghoon)

For more information, please go to: http://www.bisff.org