The BIFF: A lesson in stumbling into networking

From the Archives...

Many weekends ago, after spending a night at my country home (Preston and Caley's), I decided to head to the coast for the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). This was a great decision. As I mentioned before, in my first post, I (unsurprisingly) enjoy movies. So a festival devoted to the art of film was obviously going to be a good time. My expectations were high, and what occurred met my expectations right on.

Once I arrived in Busan I proceeded to hop on the subway and head to the Haeundae Beach stop. My next objective was to find the beach. Mission accomplished. Then I had to find the film festival. Instead I found a table with some young volunteers, one of which spoke English and directed me on my merry way. Eventually I made it to one of the three theaters in Busan, where I had to figure out how to purchase tickets (getting around in a country with a different language can be difficult). So I found some generic North American to ask where to purchase my tickets. Instead of telling me this information she proceeded to direct me to a place where pre-purchased tickets can be picked up. After riding the escalators up and down like an escalator enthusiast (it's real--I googled this term after I wrote it), I eventually made my way to the right place. Once there I had to choose a movie. This was another task I was not prepared for. I asked to see what films were playing soon and my choices were quickly narrowed down to one. So I shook my brown head and said sure. The film was entitled "The Old Man and the Land". Literary title and all, I jumped at the chance to see the only movie I could see at the time (my choice was much akin to voting for president in Iraq circa the Sadaam days--either take it or leave it, it's the only choice).

It turned out to be fascinating. It was about a man from somewhere in rural South Korea who (with the majority of the townspeople) stood against all odds in an attempt to stop the demolition of his town and crops to make room for an expanding U.S. military base. As part of the citizenry represented by this turn of events, the film was especially moving. As you'd expect, my typically hodgepodge political views had their usual cage match inside my head. While I'm sure the U.S. government reluctantly made this decision by rationalization based on national and allied defense (the South Korean government was of course the other party in the expansion, and this cooperation all dates back to the Korean conflict), I really found it difficult to see the good in the expansion. American Heritage Dictionary defines eminent domain as "the right of a government to appropriate private property for public use, usually with compensation to the owner." Historically this has applied to 'public good' necessities such as roads, schools, bridges, and yes military bases. So I'm not totally opposed to eminent domain.

But, while I don't pretend to be a legal scholar, I do find international eminent domain especially disconcerting. Imagine if the South Korean government opened a base in your town. Then after some time the U.S. and the occupying governments jointly decided to expand the base. Only invertebrates wouldn't protest such a local travesty. Oh, and the elderly farmers (for life) were offered jobs at the alien base. The presentation ended with the documentarian entering the showing for a Q & A. I mustered up my mustard seed of courage and asked a question on whether the film-maker had any hope for the townspeople and their resistance. He said he did originally, but it unfortunately steadily eroded.

Now on to my "networking." This began when I decided to talk to a fellow film enthusiast sitting behind me at the first film. It turned out he was a true film enthusiast--Ronnie, who studied the art in college. After the film we talked for a bit about it and then he in turn talked to a film critic that was seated behind us during the film. Her name was Millicent Lim Materassi from Florence, Italy. Of Korean descent, she was attending the festival as a correspondent for the Arts section of a paper called Il Manifesto with her mother. She even bought Ronnie and I a Korean oddity known as green tea ice cream. This was certainly welcome for the unbearably hot fire I have in my belly. So it turned out to be a nice and random turn of events. Once the conversation turned from film (where I could only chip in here and there) we talked about her reporting. Though this networking was all much more helpful for Ronnie, it was very enjoyable talking to an arts journalist from Italy.

The other movie was called "The Yurt." This one detailed the relationship between a father and son in the Uzbek steppe during the Soviet days. It was very interesting and enjoyable, with some very cross-cultural humor spread throughout. I found myself laughing quite frequently. And so my weekend at my first film festival ended...but not before I ate turkish food.