Gittleson Goes Abroad: Busan International Film Festival i.e. I saw celebrities

This past weekend I went to the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

But first, I spent one night in Daegu visiting a friend. We didn't know what to expect (we didn't plan out where we were sleeping, what we were doing, etc) but it ended up being a lot of fun. Grant (Hi Grant!) invited us to join his co-teachers and him for Singles Night. We ended up eating, drinking, and enjoying the company of all of the young, single teachers from his elementary school. His co-teachers were absolutely amazing and made us feel welcomed to the city. We ended up crashing on the floor of the co-teacher that ended up driving us to Busan the next day.

I made a pretty little triangle this past weekend. It takes 3 1/2 hrs to get to Daegu, 1 hr from Daegu to Busan, and 3 1/2 hrs back to Gwangju.

When we got to Busan, the second biggest city in Korea, we immediately went to see our first film. Our first film was shown at a gigantic department store called Shinsegae (which can be found all over Korea). While I say department store (imagine Nordstroms), it's more like a mall. Shinsegae's tend to be up to 8 or 9 floors with food courts and movie theaters. Our first film was a Korean movie called The Target. It was an action flick based on the French film Point Blank. The Korean style of action/thriller seems to differ from the Western style in the amount of blood and gore that's shown. I liked the movie but it wasn't my favorite. After the film, the director came out and answered questions from the audience (they had a translator for English speakers).

When we came out of the movie we noticed a crowd growing outside. Turns out that Ku Hyesun, an actress well known for her role in the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers, had directed a movie that was being shown at BIFF and was there to answer questions. We didn't really stick around because we had actually gotten tickets to see her movie and knew that we would be seeing her again. After grabbing lunch, we saw another celebrity. We ended up getting really close to him but, once again, didn't stick around. We then saw our second film...which I hated. It was an Italian film that was beautifully shot and extremely boring. I don't know if it was poor subtitles or just the archaic sounding script, but I really didn't understand the movie. I don't even feel like sharing the title- not worth revisiting. After the movie we met Grant's friend Soohyun. She's the greatest. Why? She booked all of our tickets, booked our hotel, and just showed us an amazing time in Busan.

Waiting by the red carpet for a celebrity

I'll figure out his name soon and put it here...whoops

That evening we enjoyed dinner near our hotel and then Soohyun gave us a very informal tour of Busan at night. Our hotel was near Yongdusan Park- a popular park with statues of historical figures, the Busan Tower, and the love heart fence. People write their name and their partner's name and a love promise (or something) on a paper heart and tie it onto the fence. While the Busan Tower was closed (it was almost 1 am), I really want to go back and check out the view from the observation deck at the top.

Pretty pgoda and the Busan Tower at night

A slightly blurry picture of Busan at night and the love heart fence.

The next day we saw a Korean movie called Daughters that was directed by the actress Ku Hyesun. It was absolutely amazing and made me cry. It was about the relationship between an abusive mother and her young daughter. I loved it. Watch it. Ku Hysesun and the actress who played the daughter answered questions after the movie and just generally looked pretty.

Ku Hyesun and other actress discuss the film Daughter with the audience

Afterwards we grabbed a delicious lunch and saw the famous Jagalchi Fish Market. Busan is a major port city and the Jagalchi Market is on the Busan Harbor. It smelled awful (to me) and was really crowded. It was pretty amazing to see all of these old ladies cutting up fish and hosing down live octopus and squid. While the market was really interesting and fun to see, I'll happily never go back. That smell....just no.

Different kinds of fresh fish on display

More fresh fish on display

We had the option of seeing a second movie but Megan and I decided to check out the famous Haeundae Beach. It was incredibly windy but still really fun. We stumbled upon another celebrity being interviewed at the beach who happens to be very famous in Korea. Have you seen the movie Old Boy? A remake was recently made in America. We saw the actor Choi Minsik, the lead actor from the movie.The beach was really crowded but there were lots of booths that were handing out free items. Due to the wind, we didn't stay for too long. That night Soohyun suggested that we go to the Busan Cinema Center, the official venue of BIFF, for dinner and drinks.