YONHAP NEWS

Stars to gather at opening ceremony of S. Korean film festival

   By Kim Young-gyo
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- Some of Asia's most celebrated stars will gather at the opening ceremony of South Korea's largest annual film festival, which will begin its nine-day run on Thursday, organizers said.

   The guest list, announced Wednesday by the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), features some of biggest names in Korean, Japanese and Chinese cinema, including Jung Jin-young, known for his impressive performance as an insecure king in the 2006 Korean film "King and the Clown."
"This year, rising film stars from across the world will visit Busan, making the festival a glorious event," PIFF said in a statement.

   Kim Jung-eun, who starred in "Forever the Moment," a film revolving around South Korea's women's team at the 2004 Athens Olympics, will host the opening ceremony with Jung, which is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.

   Lee Byung-heon, one of the most popular Korean actors in Asia, has already booked a ticket to Busan, organizers said. Lee, known mostly for his hit TV drama "All in," was one of the driving forces behind Korea's Hallyu, or Korea Wave, a boom of Korean pop culture that swept across the region.

   South Korean actor Hyun Bin and actress Lee Bo-young, who star in the festival's closing film "I Am Happy," will be at the ceremony, as will Kim Hye-soo and Park Hae-il, the stars of the soon to be released period melodrama "Modern Boy," to open later this month.

   Korea's beloved veteran actor and actress Ahn Sung-ki and Kang Soo-yeon are also to appear at the event Thursday night, PIFF organizers said.

   Japanese celebrity Juri Ueno, who became a popular icon in Asia with her role as the innocent Nodame in the Japanese serial drama "Nodame Cantabile", and Li Xiaolu, dubbed one of the four little empresses of China, are to meet the audience at the festival.
Aaron Yoo, a Korean-American actor who starred in the 2007 film "Disturbia," produced by Ivan Reitman, and Moon Bloodgood, an American actress and model of Korean descent, are expected to be in attendance as well.

   The 13th annual PIFF will open with the screening of Kazakh film "The Gift to Stalin," tickets to which sold out in a record time of one and half minutes through on-line sales.

   Directed by Kazakh film maker Rustem Abdrashev, "The Gift to Stalin" deals with the grim suppression of minority ethnic groups in the Soviet era.

   ygkim@yna.co.kr
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