Busan Typhoon Threat; ‘Saint Maud’ Director $60k IWC Prize

The organizers of Busan International Film Festival, which officially gets underway tomorrow (October 3), are bracing themselves for typhoon Mitag to impact the event’s opening days. As a precaution, the festival has cancelled its traditional pre-opening gala, which was set to take place today, according to the local Yonhap News Agency. The event’s opening night, which will be a screening of Yerlan Nurmukhambetov and Lisa Takeba’s The Horse Thieves, Roads of Time is still expected to take place. According to accuweather.com, the typhoon is predicted to be the strength of a category 2 hurricane (“extremely dangerous”) and could impact the South Korean coast into Thursday. Last year’s Busan festival was also affected by a typhoon, Kong-Rey, which caused several outdoor events to be relocated.

UK filmmaker Rose Glass, whose Saint Maud was a Toronto hit after debuting in the Midnight Madness program, is the recipient of this year’s $61,000 (£50,000) IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award. The prize, presented with the British Film Institute, was awarded during the organization’s annual Luminous Gala, a fundraiser to support the institute. Danny Boyle was the lead juror for the bursary. Saint Maud caused a stir in Toronto, selling out across the world for Protagonist Pictures, including A24 taking North America.

Monumental Pictures producer Alison Owen, whose credits include How To Build A Girl and Me Before You, will deliver this year’s keynote address at Film London’s Production Finance Market. Held October 7-8 alongside the BFI London Film Festival, the annual event connects producer and financiers. The Aeronauts director Tom Harper will also be hosting a masterclass for PFM attendees.