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Press Release | 2022.08.10
Director Rithy PANH Appointed as Dean of CHANEL X BIFF Asian Film Academy 2022
Asian Film Academy (AFA) partners with CHANEL to introduce the CHANEL X BIFF AFA 2022. AFA is Asia’s premier cinema education program for emerging talent to strengthen capabilities, promote innovation, create the conditions for future filmmakers to dare, and support new and bold ambitions in cinema. Director Rithy Panh has been selected as the Dean to lead the CHANEL X BIFF AFA 2022. Alongside Rithy Panh, director Tan Chui Mui and filming director Um Hye-jung have been confirmed as mentors.
Rithy Panh is Asia’s foremost film director and screenwriter. He received worldwide recognition by winning the Documentary Award at the 10th Amiens International Film Festival for his first documentary Site 2 (1989). He was awarded the 66th Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard Prize for The Missing Picture (2013) and won the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award dedicated to the Asian film industry and cultural development at the 18th Busan International Film Festival in the same year. In addition, he won the Berlinale Documentary Award at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival for Irradiated (2020) and recently won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival for Everything Will Be OK (2022).
Malaysian director Tan Chui Mui won the New Currents Award and the FIPRESCI Award (Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics) at the 11th Busan International Film Festival and received the TIGER Award at the 36th Rotterdam International Film Festival for Love Conquers All (2006). Tan Chui Mui won the Jury Grand Prix of Golden Goblet Award at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival for BARBARIAN INVASION (2021).
Um Hye-jung, a graduate of the first AFA program previously partnered with the Busan International Film Festival in 2005. Since then, she has gained solid experience, including winning the 18th Women’s Film of the Year Award for the film Bluebeard (2017) and has supported female filmmakers by sharing her experiences at the 24th Busan International Film Festival.
This year, 407 applicants across 35 countries applied to participate in the CHANEL X BIFF AFA programme, marking the highest application rate in the history of the AFA. Female filmmakers accounted for 67% of applicants, and the CHANEL X BIFF AFA saw increased participation from Central Asia countries such as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and various Asian countries such as Nauru and Yemen. The final selected members will produce a film with professional training and mentoring for 18 days from September 27th to October 14th. The completed work will be officially screened during this year’s Busan International Film Festival.
CHANEL has had an ongoing dialogue with cinema since its founding, and the House continues to champion emerging filmmakers through its many cinema initiatives around the world. True to its creator’s vision to be a “part of what will happen next”, CHANEL is dedicated to creating the conditions for emerging filmmakers to thrive. Today, CHANEL is striving to steadily expand its commitment to a culture of 100 years and support emerging creative talent. As part of this effort, the CHANEL X BIFF AFA is expected to play a key role in discovering and empowering young talent in the cinema industry both in South Korea and internationally.
Rithy Panh was born in Cambodia and is a film director with an international reputation. After the 1979 Khmer Rouge massacre, he left for Paris to find out the truth about it through movies and has devoted himself to honoring the sacrifices. In 1989, his first documentary, Site 2 (1989), won an award at a leading international film festival and was nominated for the competition category at the 47th Cannes Film Festival for his first feature film Rice People (1994). Since then, S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (2003) and The Burnt Theatre (2005) have also entered the Cannes Film Festival, and The Missing Picture (2013), which won the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 66th Cannes Film Festival, was the first Cambodian film nominated for the 86th Academy Awards. Exile (2016) and Graves Without A Name (2018) are works that explore the aftermath of the Cambodian genocide. Irradiated (2020) was honored with the Berlinale Documentary Award at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, and his latest film, Everything Will Be Ok (2022), won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. In addition, director Rithy Panh won the Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the 18th Busan International Film Festival and served as the judge of the newly established TikTok Short Film Festival at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Directing Mentor: TAN Chui Mui
Cinematography Mentor: UM Hye-jung
Born in 1978, director Tan Chui Mui made a small wooden chair at the age of five and published a children’s magazine at nine. She completed reading encyclopedias at age 12, published a column in a weekly student magazine at 17, and won the New Currents Award and the FIPRESCI Award (Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics) at the 11th Busan International Film Festival and received the TIGER Award at the 36th Rotterdam International Film Festival for Love Conquers All (2006) at 27. Since then, she, who won the grand prize in the international competition category at the 31st Clermont‑Ferrand International Short Film Festival for Everyday Everyday (2009), was invited to the Cinefondation Residence program organized by the Cannes Film Festival and has also served as a mentor for various local film production workshops. Moreover, she led the New Wave Movement in Malaysia by forming a Next New Wave Film (NNW Film) workshop to foster young filmmakers. In addition, director Tan Chui Mui won the Jury Grand Prix of Golden Goblet Award at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival for BARBARIAN INVASION (2021).
Um Hye-jung, a 1st AFA graduate, graduated with MFA in a film and lighting major at the Korea National University of Arts and gave lectures at Jeonju University, Chung-Ang University and Dankook University. Currently, she teaches at the Korea National University of Arts film department. Director Kim Young Nam’s short film I Can Fly To You But You...(2001), where Um Hye-jung joined as a filming director was invited to the Cinéfondation section of the 54th Cannes Film Festival, and director Cho Gyu Ok’s Fingerprint (2004) was screened at the 9th Busan International Film Festival and the 8th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. She won the filming award at the 3rd Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival with Fingerprint (2004). Afterwards, she was invited to the 57th Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week for the short film production work Home Sweet Home (2004). In feature films, she worked on Lee Soo Yeon’s omnibus feature film Modern Family E.D. 571 (2012) and later won the Technical Award at the 18th Women in Film Korea Festival for Bluebeard (2017). In 2020, she participated in various works, such as working as a filming director for director Kim Jin-min’s Netflix original drama Extracurricular.
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