Chang Chen (L) and Hou Hsiao-hsien promote 'Three Times' in Busan
© AFP/PIFFBUSAN, South Korea (AFP) - Action superstar Jackie Chan, actress Vivian Hsu and legendary Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami are among the big names jetting in for the nine-day Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
The festival will show more than 300 films from some 70 countries, including dozens of world premieres, to an audience of almost 200,000 at screens across the country's second-largest city.
The 1.5 kilometre (0.9-mile) pine tree-fringed sands of Busan's Haeundae Beach will be transformed into a 5,000-capacity open-air cinema and light shows have been set up for Thursday night's gala opening.
Thousands of star-gazers are expected to turn out along the seafront strip to witness the red-carpet premiere of leading Taiwan director Hou Hsiao-hsien's latest movie "Three Times", a love story set in three different eras.
The movie, starring Chang Chen and sex siren Shu Qi, tells the story of three separate romances in Taiwan set against the backdrop of the 1911 Chinese revolution, the 1966 cultural revolution and in modern times.
"Three Times" premiered at Cannes earlier this year but left empty-handed.
Hou, a former Golden Lion winner at the Venice festival, has since re-edited the film, adding 15 minutes to the original two-hour version especially for PIFF, which sponsored the project in 2002.
Though the latest cut did not win universal acclaim among critics after Thursday's press screening, festival director Kim Dong-ho told reporters: "Three Times is the greatest Asian film to be released this year."
Hou, wearing a blue baseball cap, said he was delighted his film had been chosen to open the festival and returned Kim's compliment.
"PIFF has grown to become Asia's biggest and best film festival," he said, explaining he had made changes to the film because the original had been produced in a hurry and he wasn't satisfied with the version shown at Cannes.
Actor Chang is alongside Hou in Busan but Shu Qi will not be at the premiere.
"It is because I tortured her too much during the film-making process," Hou deadpanned.
In a sign of how South Koreans have taken to the festival, most of the 600-plus screenings have sold out.
Local media reported tickets for the opening and closing films were being touted on online auction sites for 10 times the face value.
The mania for South Korean pop culture currently sweeping East Asia -- the so-called "Korean Wave" -- means large groups of fans from as far as Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong are also anticipated to be in town hoping to catch a glimpse of their idols.
Launched in 1996, the PIFF has rapidly grown into the most renowned cinematic gathering in Asia, upstaging longer-standing festivals in the region.
The rise mirrors the fortunes of the emergent film industry in South Korea which, alongside Thailand, has in recent years joined Asia's traditional powerhouses Hong Kong and Japan in the movie big league -- winning awards, overseas audiences and the attention of Hollywood heavyweights.
Asian films, once an oddity at Western film festivals, have over the past 10 years become a major force from Berlin to Cannes to Venice, as well as inspiring Western remakes.
Unlike the major European festivals, however, Busan is not a competitive event, although it has a jury, headed by Kiarostami, that will hand out an award worth 10,000 US dollars for the best feature by an up-and-coming Asian director.
Although the South Korean government changed the host city's name to Busan in 2000 as part of a national renaming policy, PIFF organisers decided to stick with Pusan's previous name as it was part of its global branding strategy.
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