The star-studded cast of the Busan Project, an omnibus film project by three directors from Korea, Japan and Thailand, has been released along with the official title of the motion picture.

The film, which is to be entitled “Camellia,” is being produced by the Pusan International Film Festival, which has become one of the prevalent film events in Asia.

The cast will comprise Korean actors Gang Dong-won, Song Hye-kyo, Kim Min-jun and Sul Kyung-Gu. They will appear alongside prominent actors from Japan and Thailand, the other two countries represented in the project.

A Press release from the Pusan International Film Festival stated, “The name of the film is meaningful because the camellia tree and flower represent the city of Busan.”

The project, which has a budget of 1.5 billion won ($1.3M) , is the film festival’s first production. It drew attention last year when it was first announced that directors Jang Joon-hwan from Korea, Isao Yukisada from Japan, and Wisit Sasanatieng from Thailand would come together to make the film, which will be shot in the southern city of Busan. PIFF director Kim Dong-ho, who is also the producer of the project, told reporters at the 14th Edition of the festival last October that, “The Busan Project was conceived with the hope that it would help Busan develop into a hub of cinema in Asia, and we thought that it would be great if notable Asian directors could collaborate to make an omnibus film set in Busan with the common theme of love.”

Gang and Song will star in Korean director Jang’s film, “Love for Sale,” which tells the story of a couple knotted in a fatal love affair in the midst of a highly industrialized society where even love is put up for sale.

Korean actor Sul Kyung-gu and Japanese actress Yuriko Yoshitaka will star in Japanese director Yukisada’s film, “Kamome” (“Seagull”), a fantasy-melodrama portraying the love between a movie director and a young lady in present-day Busan.

Korean actor Kim Min-jun and Thai-American actor Michael Shaowanasai will star in the third segment called “Iron Pussy,” by Thai director Sasanatieng. The movie, set in Busan in the 1970’s, tells the story of a Thai secret agent, a man disguised as a woman, who slips into the seaside city on a mission and falls for a mysterious Korean guy.

Filming began mid-January, starting with Jang’s film, and producers hope to present the film at the Cannes film festival in May.

Source: JoongAng Daily