Busan International Film Festival 2021 | How Do Characters Create Their Own Justice?

Once you say ‘screw you’ to the system, then what are you supposed to do?

That’s what the characters seem to be doing at this year’s Busan International Film Festival.

The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) 2021 drew mega stars Lee Byung-hun, Yoo Ah-in, JUN Jong-seo, Park Jeong-min, Jang Yoon-ju, Kim Hyun-bin and Gong Seung-yeon. Meanwhile, world-renowned directors Lee Chang-dong, Bong Joon Ho, Leos Carax, and Hamaguchi Ryusuke also received honors at the annual cinema fest held this year from October 6–15, 2021.

But what mark upon the world does the film festival make this year? The Seoulite notices that each year, the film committee seems to coalesce around a global cinematic zeitgeist — a bellwether of where humanity is being led by our collective choices.

In 2021, I believe filmmakers have tapped into the feeling many of us have that the systems we once believed in no longer function. We’ve actually given up on them long ago and now we’re trying to master our own worlds where we struggle to make our own decisions about justice, revenge and peace. What makes it all fair again if it’s up to us to decide?

Once we say ‘goodbye’ to the system, it’s really tough to make these choices on our own. Who’s there to teach us? At least we have the movies. The films this year show us characters all across the world in various societies and in different life struggles picking their own paths towards justice. It’s not easy but at least there’s a road of freedom if you’re brave enough.

In this video, I review two movies in particular: “The Bargain” set in Shanghai, China by director Wang Qi and “Yuni” set in Indonesia by director Kamila Andini.

Next year, instead of Davos, consider going to Busan to get a preview of where the world is heading.

Originally published at https://www.theseoulite.com on October 14, 2021.