The opening day has marked the commemorative record
having counted the grand total number of audience 200,000
since the festival’s inauguration in 1991. This year,
60 films were screened in total, as many as last year,
and audience attendance has reached the record high.
One of the features was the Spotlight-Women’s Film section
where six titles directed by women filmmakers were introduced.
Among all those excellent films, Hejar, a Turkish
film about the Kurdish issue drew the wide attention.
Other two special programmes also attracted people;
the Vietnam Film in Focus section screened rather new
type of films representing from the Vietnam film industry
that is now in the transformation phase with their 50th
anniversary, and in Korean Cinema Collection section
a variety kinds of films were gathered in Fukuoka from
popular, Korean pictures.
Many movie fans rushed to see not only feature films
but documentaries and short films such as Daughter
from Yan’an filmed in China by Japanese director
Kaoru Ikeya, and Barefoot to Herat by the prominent
filmmaker Majid Majidi witnessing the realities of the
neighbouring country, Afghanistan. Majidi also presented
a short film which was popular among audience as well
as a Korean film made up of short stories by six talented
directors.
Thailand’s humming film industry sent Fukuoka two noteworthy
films made by young directors, Mekhong Full Moon
Party and One Night Husband. Also, Australia
has made the first entry into the festival with Beneath
Clouds, a debut film by a young director.
With the outbreak of Sars that hit Asia this spring,
how it would affect guests’ attendance was our concern
before the disease-free declaration. Far from our worry,
leading actresses of Asia including Konkona Sensharma
(India), Nimmi Harasgama (Sri Lanka), Ho Thi Kim Khanh
(Vietnam), Siriyakorn Pookaves (Thailand), Chen Shiang-chyi
(Taiwan), and Chang Mi-hee (Korea), came and lent brilliance
to the festival.
Philippines’ filmmaker Marilou Diaz-Abaya who calls
Fukuoka her "second home" came to the festival
expressly as one of the panellists of the Forum entitled
"Message from Asian Filmmakers."