BUSAN: Dozens of South Korean filmmakers and critics rallied behind a controversial film on the Sewol ferry disaster yesterday, criticising efforts to prevent its screening at the Busan International Film Festival as an assault on freedom of expression.
The documentary -- which is due to have its premiere Monday at Busan -- focuses on botched rescue efforts during the April tragedy that killed about 300 people, mostly school students, in one of the country’s worst ever disasters.
The tragedy was blamed by many on regulatory failings and official incompetence, and plunged the nation into months of mourning.
“Diving Bell” -- codirected by Ahn Hae-Ryong and prominent leftwing journalist Lee Sang-Ho -- stirred emotions before the festival opened Thursday, with critics including Busan mayor and festival chairman Seo Byung-soo slamming it as too political and insensitive and calling on festival organisers to scrap the screening.
But some 20 directors, actors and producers held a protest in Busan yesterday to support the premiere, urging organisers to continue to stand by their decision to show the film and let the audience make up its own mind.
“If authorities ban movies with a certain political message, not a single movie will be shown here,” prominent South Korean director Chung Ji-Young said during the event. AFP
