The Circuit

Derek Elley has a good article up on the Pusan lineup.  They have a strong list this year: Feng Xiaogang's big war film "Assembly" and a big anime, "Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone." (pictured, the trailer of which has rebuilds all over YouTube)  He notes all eyes are on the New Currents and Window on Asian Cinema sections, the only competitive area: "These are two of the reasons why scouts, buyers and crix jet in each year -- and it's through them that PIFF has nailed its increasingly indie colors to the fest mast."

Also interesting is the gloves-off fight brewing between the different Asian fests as the region's filmmaking keeps up a hot streak:

The not-so-good news is that next year Tokyo will shift its dates to just before PIFF (from just after), imperiling the Koreans' ability to get as many headline world preems. And ambitious new management at other fests -- notably Shanghai and South Korea's PiFan, both in the summer -- are reorganizing their programming to take advantage of perceived weaknesses in PIFF's Asian selection, which has become progressively focused on indie and arthouse product.