A BIFF's Official photo during the closing ceremony (me carrying that bag... Inside were my laptop (Bao wanted to talk about his documentary, but for obvious reasons, he found no time for that) and camera... I couldn't find any place where to put it.)

We're all back home now and made it through the political controversy that surrounded - and still surrounds the film in Vietnam, a controversy that reaches summits of sheer absurdity. I can't emphasise enough how to us, it was, is and has always essentially been about creating, telling a story, expressing ourselves and share it with the audience. That the film won the coveted New Current Best Film award should be a reason for Vietnam to rejoice and celebrate, not resent and battle us - or anyone else (the controversy is actually a displaced result of internal feuds within the Department of Film in Vietnam...)

I can't express enough all the love and support I feel for the cast and crew of the film.

“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later."

Stanley Kubrick”

Team Ròm walking that red carpet during the closing ceremony. 

News of the day: Ròm won New Current Best Film at the Busan Film Festival alongside Iraki Mohamad Hayal's Haifa Street!!! Unbelieveable!!!
Yaaaaaay!!!

Ròm: A feeling of fullfillment and elation.

Jee-woon

It is a great joy to see Jee-woong again in Busan, a year after The Third Wife, and only a few months after we met in Seoul last summer. A great pleasure indeed as this passionate film and music lovers such as him are rare. I was so glad when he attended the premiere of Ròm, and even happier that he loved the film - and it didn't kill me either that he also enjoyed Thưa mẹ con đi - "I was very touched by the film! I reminded me of my own younger years."

Busan, the next morning. Jetlag oblige, I could barely sleep more than 3 hours. I felt the sea was calling me so I went out to the beach to watch the sunrise. 

It will take me some time to realise I'm actually in Busan. 

Unfortunately, I arrived a tad too late to be allowed entry for the opening ceremony yesterday. Unclear information from Bao regarding the opening ceremony schedule. The gates were closed at 5 p.m. and the taxi reached the city ten minutes later... No big deal, although had I known it before, I wouldn't have rushed from Paris to Taipei and Taipei to Busan like that.
 

But as I told the taxi driver, I'm excited to be back in Busan. This year, I don't see any film poster on Haeundae Beach...

Now I need more sleep... But there are so many films I want to see!