Netflix has announced that speakers including Possible Love DoP Kim Ji-yong, The Blue Road director Han Jun-hee and WETA FX’s CTO Kimball Thurston will join the streamer’s Creative Asia programme at this year’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).
Ji-yong will deliver a masterclass on how he and Possible Love director Lee Chang-dong shaped the visual world of the film, which just scored the Grand Jury Prize in Venice and is Korea’s official section for the Oscars.
Han Jun-hee, whose credits also include D.P. and Weak Hero Class, is hosting a masterclass entitled “Making Unexpected Stories Resonate” about turning unexpected, even uncomfortable, subjects into stories that capture the world’s attention.
Creative Asia will also feature a masterclass on “Location and Storytelling”, bringing together perspectives from Lauren Cooper of Location Managers Guild International, Perfect Days producer Reiko Kunieda and Sung Q Lee, Senior Director, APAC Production at Netflix.
WETA FX’s chief technology officer Kimball Thurston is one of the speakers on an industry panel about using AI in filmmaking – “AI in Filmmaking: New Tools, New Possibilities” – along with Sung Q Lee and Korean director Kang Yun-sung (Run To The West, The Outlaws).
Another industry panel entitled “New Voices in Filmmaking: What’s Ahead” will examine small- to medium-budget filmmaking and features speakers including Namkoong Sun (Love Untangled) and Wi Eun-kyoung and Son Gwang-min, co-directors of My Aunt.
The programme also includes two workshops: “The Art and Archetypes of Cinematic Storytelling”, led by Netflix’s Director, Content Acquisition, Christopher Mack, is aimed at writers and breaks down what makes a pilot compelling and the structural choices that keep audiences watching.
Led by Netflix’s Director, Creative Strategy, “Understanding the Buyer’s Perspective” looks at what motivates greenlight decisions, how a show gets chosen for financing, and what kind of script or story stays in the imagination after a pitch ends.
Designed to support the region’s next generation of creators, the programme has been devised by Netflix in partnership with BIFF, the Asian Film Commissions Network (AFCNet) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA). It will take place on October 10 at Dongseo University Centum Campus.
BIFF is running October 6-15 at the Busan Cinema Center and locations across Busan, with the Asian Contents & Film Market taking place at BEXCO October 10-13.
