{"id":919221,"date":"2026-10-07T09:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T09:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919221\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T09:02:09","slug":"zhang-yimou-teases-three-body-problem-at-biff-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919221\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhang Yimou Teases ‘Three-Body Problem’ At BIFF Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tChinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou<\/a>, who is serving as president of Busan International Film Festival<\/a>\u2019s competition jury, offered some details of his upcoming adaptation of sci-fi epic The Three-Body Problem at the festival\u2019s opening ceremony on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst announced at Shanghai film festival in 2024, there hasn\u2019t been much news about the project recently, but Zhang explained that it\u2019s moving steadily ahead: \u201cThe Three-Body Problem is a great work of science fiction, but it\u2019s hard to photograph, so we spent several years polishing the script,\u201d he said on stage at Busan Cinema Center.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that his team has collected around 400,000 online comments from fans of the novel about their hopes for the film: \u201cIn this era of AI, with its democratization of images, audience expectation is extremely high so we hope to live up their expectations and make a good movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of China\u2019s most acclaimed works of science fiction, Liu Cixin\u2019s The Three-Body Problem is the first book in a trilogy that begins with a scientist who discovers that an alien civilization is planning to take over Earth as their own planet is too unstable.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt has already been adapted by Netflix as an English-language series and has had two Chinese-language adaptations \u2013 a live-action series produced by Tencent and an animated series from Bilibili. The property has had a colourful history with one Chinese-language feature adaptation left unfinished and an executive involved in handling the rights murdered by a colleague in 2020.<\/p>\n

\n\tZhang\u2019s version is being produced by Beijing Enlight Media, the studio behind blockbuster animation Nezha 2, and is understood to involve a significant AI component. One of China\u2019s most acclaimed directors, with a career stretching back to the Fifth Generation, Zhang continues to make hit films in China today, most recently with spy thriller Scare Out over Lunar New Year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe day after the BIFF opening, Zhang gave a typically diplomatic answer at the jury press conference when asked about the controversy that has erupted in Korea over Hur Jin-ho\u2019s political thriller The Assassin(s).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, revolves around the attempted assassination of South Korean President Park Chung-hee in 1974, which resulted in the death of the First Lady. Right-wing groups have attacked the film for lack of historical accuracy, with the issue even being debated in Korea\u2019s National Assembly, forcing the film to cancel its planned promotional activities at BIFF due to security risks.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked about the relationship between historical accuracy and freedom of speech, Zhang replied: \u201cCreation is creation and sometimes what we create is not historical fact. We may ask ourselves, should this be based on our lives? But often we need to go beyond our lives to make a good film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued: \u201cI haven\u2019t seen the film in question, but we have to respect the creators \u2013 history is distant from us, but we can use it to tell stories to audiences living in current times, so in some ways it\u2019s a form of art. What the audience feels or thinks after watching the film is up to them \u2013 everyone has different opinions \u2013 and this is the charm or beauty of the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKorean filmmaker and jury member July Jung (Dora) added: \u201cI feel discouraged by this situation as a filmmaker. Due to the way this film depicts certain people, it means that some people could be damaged or hurt by his film. On the other hand, as filmmakers we need to accept that some people will criticize our work and take full responsibility for the worlds we create.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe BIFF jury also debated the impact of the festival\u2019s competition section, now in its second year, which this year has a selection of 13 films, with the jury handing out six prizes. Under new Academy rules, the winner of the festival\u2019s Best Film Award will automatically qualify for submission to the Best International Feature category of the Oscars.<\/p>\n

\n\tChinese director Bi Gan (Resurrection) said: \u201cBusan was already a strong festival without the competition, but it\u2019s now a core component of the festival for filmmakers in China, Japan and Korea because it creates a new trend. It\u2019s not just about selecting prize winners, but it gives people more reason to discuss the selected films. It\u2019s a good way to open the discourse between people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVietnamese producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc (Skin Of Youth) said: \u201cBusan has always been a crucial place to discover new talent and New Currents [previously the main competition section at BIFF] did a great job in recognizing emerging directors who needed a platform for us to discover their voices. But Asian cinema is growing fast in terms of quality and the number of great films coming from the region. So the festival\u2019s new competition section matches that growth and demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBIFF\u2019s seven-person jury also includes Korean actress Moon Choi, who produced and acted in Bedford Park, which is screening at the festival this year; Japanese director Kei Ishikawa (A Pale View Of Hills); and Kazakh actress Samal Yeslyamova (Ayka). The jury will be handing out their awards at the closing ceremony on October 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who is serving as president of Busan International Film Festival\u2019s competition jury, offered some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,12329,134,344,244164],"class_list":["post-919221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-busan-international-film-festival","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-zhang-yimou"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}