Friday, October 12, 2007

Pusan - Put A Fork In My Ass And Beam Me Up, Scotty

First off, I am psyched that it is official. John told me in Pusan that he was going to be Sulu in the new Star Trek movie but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to say anything. It's super cool.

It's been a much more mellow final days of Pusan.

For the final send off of the last of the entourage, on Thursday night, we had the best party of the festival. It was a nice change of pace from all the catered industry events with wine and finger food. We went to a college bar with a bunch of the volunteers and drank tequila. All of the volunteers here are really amazing. They all speak multiple languages and do it out of love for film. We capped the night as usual with some noh rae bang.

Now, the entourage is down to just me. And I need to pack and get out of here. I walked the red carpet last night all by my lonesome at the closing ceremony. The weather was gorgeous, the movie (Evangelion You Are [Not] Alone) was fun and the night was capped off with a mellow meal at a potchang matcha with an old friend Cindy.

Cindy and I met when I was here in 2005 with The Motel. She was an audience member then and volunteered herself as my translator at an impromptu Q&A. Coming back with my second film, she has now gotten a job with the festival as a guest coordinator. Her job was to make sure the jury members got to where they needed to be throughout the festival. After running into one another like two people on runaway horses all festival long, we finally got a chance to sit down and share a meal. It felt nice to come full circle.

I spent most of yesterday wandering aimlessly in the city, eating mandoo from a street cart and finding some knick-knacks to take home. I head back to Seoul today and have to take care of a last bit of business. I'll be checking the color correct for the film's release here in Korea next month. It's very exciting to have the film play in the motherland. And it is especially nice to know that guaging by the reaction here, the Koreans are into it.

BTW if you know folks in Korea, let them know the film will be out November 15. If you can't make it to Seoul, then they can try and catch it in San Diego next week as the Closing Night Film at the San Diego Asian Film Festival or in two weeks at the Hawaii International Film Festival or Ft. Lauderdale at the end of the month at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

It's time to pack. See you back in the good old US of A. Thank you Pusan for a wonderful time.