Edward YANG

Edward Yang, who passed away last June at the age of 60, was one of Asia’s most prominent filmmakers to remember. He pioneered the Taiwanese New Wave and his intricate film aesthetics elevated the status of Asian Cinema. Yang’s cinematic philosophy will be long remembered and PIFF awards him the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award in honor of his life-long devotion to film art. Also, in order to retrace Yang’s creative life and spectrum, PIFF will hold a retrospective and seminar as homage to him. Kaili Peng*, Edward Yang’s wife and artistic partner, will accept the award on behalf of him

Kaili PENG
After receiving her M.A. in Music from New England Conservatory of Music in 1990, Kaili Peng began her career as a popular concert pianist and music composer and released several solo albums. Her career soon diversified into other media such as radio, fashion columns for ELLE , and bestseller books on style. In the late 90’s, she served on her late husband Edward YANG’s last film A One and a Two as production designer and music composer.

Sabrina BARACETTI

Festival President of Udine Far East Film Festival
Sabrina Baracetti, the Festival President of Udine Far East Film Festival, has been introducing Korean films from the very beginning of the festival. Baracetti contributed to promotion of Korean cinema in Italy and Europe by inviting Korean directors and actors to the festival and showcasing over 120 Korean films of various genres such as An Affair, Girls’ Night Out , Foul King, Bad Guy, The Way Home, Welcome to Dongmakgol, and The War of Flower . In 2003, the festival’s special program titled, ‘The Magnificent Seven: 7 Directors from the Golden Age of Korean Cinema’ presented works by Korean auteurs like Barefooted Youth (KIM Ki-deok), The Evil Stairs (LEE Man-hee), Guests Who Came by the Last Train (Yoo Hyun-mok), and Mist (KIM Soo-yong). In addition, Korean commercial hits such as Conduct Zero and The Way Home were hot stuff that year.

Jean-François RAUGER

Head programmer of La Cinémathèque Française
Jean-François Rauger, as the head programmer of the Cinémathèque Française, Paris, has been presenting Korean classic films. He organized the ‘Im Kwon-Taek Retrospective’ in 2001 where he showed 17 of Im’s most famous films. In 2005, Rauger’s special program, ‘50 Years of Korean Cinema’ screened 50 Korean films varying from Yoo Hyun Mok’s The Aimless Bullet (1960) to Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder (2007), illustrating the last 50 years of Korean film history. The following year, another Korean special program, ‘Kim Ki-young and His Spiritual Children’ screened KIM Ki-young’s classics like Hanyo ( The Housemaid ) (1960) and Iodo ( Io Island ) (1977) and it was organized, once again, by Rauger. He promoted Korean cinema through his Cinémathèque Française programs on both Korean shorts and feature films.