Vietnamese movie to vie for honors at S Korean film festival

The film directed by Marcus Manh Cuong Vu will go up against nine other entries, including Thailand’s “Blue Again”, Malaysia’s “A Place Called Silence” and India’s “Shivamma” in the New Currents category.

According to the BIFF, New Currents is a category that aims to discover new Asian films and emerging directors, and the 10 shortlisted films will also be nominated for, besides an award in that category, the FIPRESCI Award, NETPAC Award and KB New Currents Audience Award.

“A film that beautifully captures the profound topic of life and death,” BIFF wrote on its website about “Memento Mori: Land”.

Vu wrote on his social media account: “I still couldn’t believe my work will be shown in the most important category of a top film festival, which is every filmmaker’s dream.”

His film, about a cancer-stricken mother, draws inspiration from “Destination of life,” a book about a true story written by Dang Hoang Giang.

It tells the story of Van, a young mother, who is left bedridden and only has a few months left to live, tries to pass down life messages and lessons to her two daughters, and wishes to donate her organs after she dies.

The New Currents award is given to two outstanding works chosen by the jury, with the winners each getting a cash prize of US$30,000.

Tran Thanh Huy’s “Rom” was one of the two films that won in this category in 2019.

Launched in 1996, the Busan International Film Festival has been one of Asia’s largest film events, has 21 categories and primarily honors young auteurs.