BUSAN: A controversial film on South Korea’s devastating Sewol ferry disaster premiered at the Busan film festival yesterday, after weeks of protest and heated debate over whether the highly-divisive documentary should be screened at all.
“The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol,” aka “Diving Bell,” had stirred strong emotions long before Asia’s largest film festival opened last week.
The documentary focuses on botched rescue efforts surrounding the April 16 sinking of the Sewol ferry that claimed more than 300 lives -- most of them high school students.
Blamed by many on regulatory failings, corruption and official incompetence, the Sewol ferry disaster plunged the entire nation into mourning and triggered a lasting wave of public anger and disgust.
With emotions still running high six months later, some accused the film of being overly-politicised and insensitive, and the mayor of Busan -- as well as some relatives of the ferry victims -- demanded it be withdrawn from the festival.
In response, dozens of filmmakers urged the festival organisers to stand firm and let the audience make up their own minds.
MANILA: Two Swiss nationals had been shot dead in a southern Philippine resort town, police said yesterday.
The victims, 67-year-old Robert Erich Loever and 78-year-old Baltazar Johann Erni, had just stepped out from a beach resort at 1pm on Sunday in Opol town, Misamis Oriental province, when unidentified gunmen shot them in the head, municipal police chief Senior Inspector Alwin Baclao said.
The assailants fled on foot, Baclao said, according to the victims’ two female companions who witnessed the attack.
Police ruled out robbery as motive after the suspects ran away without taking the victims’ belongings, Baclao said, adding an investigation was under way.
Criminal gangs are known to operate in the southern Philippines, prompting China last month to warn its citizens against travel to the area. Agencies
