The Phantom Master Opens the PISAF 2004

The Sixth Pucheon International Student Animation Festival 2004 will be held from November 5 to November 9 in Boksagol Cultural Center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. Only students enrolled at college-level institutions are eligible to participate in this event.

Forty-nine films were selected out of 352 submitted from 20 counties in the pre-selection process, and the grand-prize-winning film will be shown at the closing ceremony.

The opening film will be “Phantom Master - Dark Hero from Ruined Empire,” co-directed by Korean director Ahn Tae-geun and Japanese director Joji Shimura. “Phantom Master” is based on a comic book by Yang Gyeong-il, and 150,000 copies were sold in Japan only.

The story is about Munsu, the last royal envoy of an imaginary empire “Jushin,” who helped people in misery.

“Steam Boy” by Otomo Katsuhiro, the closing film for the Venice Film Festival this year, and a long Japanese animation, “Yu-Gi-Oh,” by Hatsuki Tsuji, will premier in Korea.

Animation fans should not miss Bill Plympton’s new animation “Hair High” and Supinfocom’s Best Collection. Supinfocom is an animation school in France. (More information: 032-325-2061,2)

Jung-Bo Suh suhchoi@donga.com