Widely acknowledged as the best of its kind in Asia, The Pusan International Film Festival    runs from Oct. 4-12 this year in Busan (That’s right, the festival  outdates the current romanization).

The festival can be  a nice  change of pace from both the  blockbuster fare  exclusively found in theaters and ye ole  download on the computer screen at home.

For those not living in Asia PIFF you can use our coverage as a  guide for films that might be released during the upcoming  year. However, PIFF is not the Sundance Film Festival, so don’t expect  pictures of Don Johnson eating kimchi or any of that jazz.  

The biggest name at PIFF is arguably  Peter Greenway (perhaps known best for The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover) who will be on hand to teach a “Master Class” at PIFF.

Other notable appearances will be legendary film composer Ennio Morricone (who scored most of Clint Eastwood’s classic spaghetti western films), and Jeon Do-yeon,  one Korea’s finest  screen talents  and recent winner of the best actress  award at this year’s Cannes for her role in Milyang.  

To call PIFF the Cannes of the East is not entirely unfair.  That said, Cannes is the most  competitive festival in the world  with the  winner of the  Palme d’Or (Cannes  top award) attracting worldwide attention.

While there is a grand prize winner at PIFF, the focus is helping young filmmakers (3 directors win the award) get funding they might not ordinarily receive.  

Over the years  PIFF has become increasingly focused on Asia. Specifically, this year has a  decidedly Chinese flavor. A Hollywood Reporter  article on the budding relationship between Korean and Chinese film  companies can be found here.  

The opening film at PIFF will be Assembly by Chinese director Feng Xiaogang.

Feng’s film is about the Battle of Huaiyin-Huai’an, which pitted the nationalists and the communists against one another over two of China’s richest cities during the Chinese Civil War. That the film is reportedly anti-war in nature, along with the fact that  Feng’s father was a professor at a Communist-era university,  might  prove interesting.  

The closing film will be Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, a theatrical version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which first started as an TV animation series  in 1995 and is still one of the most popular animae of its kind.

Check your East Windup Chronicle over the next eight or so days for PIFF coverage. Our reporter Aaron Shinsano has been covering the festival for a variety of newspapers and Web-things for the past four years.