[2010.10.08] ZHANG YIMOU ATTRACTS A CROWD

Dou Xiao, Zhang Yimou, Zhou Dongyu

courtesy of takungpao.com

The 15th Annual Pusan International Film Festival opened last night. Actors Han Ji-Hye and Jung Jun-Ho host the opening ceremony, with many Korean officials and 150 some famous actors and directors around the world in attendance. After the opening ceremony ended, Chinese director Zhang Yimou's UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE opened the film festival.

Before the opening ceremony, UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE held a media screening in the afternoon. After the screening, Zhang Yimou met the media with leads Dou Xiao and Zhou Dongyu. When they appeared, all the flash bulbs glittered in the venue as the sounds of fast shutters filled the room. Zhang Yimou said that he was very honored that his new film was

selected to be the Pusan Film Festival opening film. "I have been to Pusan before. This is a wonderful film festival that has done a lot of work to introduce Asian films and at the same time provided many opportunities to film professionals."

During the screening, the Korean media and film critic responses were similar to its Mainland release. Viewers would laugh from the heart in one moment and by the end of the film, almost all were filled with tears in their eyes. Zhou Dongyu was obviously nervous. "I feel very honored and very happy, I like the culture, food and atmosphere here very much." Dou Xiao was somewhat nervous as well. "This is my first trip to Korea, the people here have been great to us. I like Korea very much, thank you." Zhou Dongyu even said, "During the shoot, the director not only taught us how to act but how to live. The director is very knowledgeable and we admire him very much. One shot took over 100 takes, we thought the director would be very angry, but he was very patient like every take was the first take. He slowly taught her and had no sign of rage at all, I was very touched."

The nine day long film festival will screen over 300 films, 103 of which will be global premieres.