Michelle Yeoh, the winner of this year’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award at the 31st Busan International Film Festival, shared that her secret to longevity in the industry is taking fearless new risks with emerging directors.
Speaking at a press conference held the day after the opening ceremony at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae-gu, Yeoh said, “Like the Busan Film Festival, I started in Asia and walked a long path aiming for the global stage. We achieved our goal of sharing Asian films and culture worldwide in one way or another.” She added, “I arrived in Busan four days ago and saw a double rainbow. It feels like a good omen.”>
Having won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actress by an Asian for the multiverse comedic action film ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022), she also shared her life philosophy: “Life is about taking new risks and facing challenges, and that is why it has meaning.”>
Marking her first attendance at the Busan festival in 15 years since ‘The Lady’ (2011), Yeoh is presenting her new film ‘Our Grandmother is the Cube King’, in which she stars and serves as an executive producer.
‘Our Grandmother is the Cube King’ tells the story of a former math teacher who loses her home to fraud and enters a nursing home, only to take on a new challenge using the Rubik’s Cube after befriending a Z-generation youth who is a former Rubik’s Cube champion. The movie is based on a true story of a teacher in Zhejiang, China, who started solving Rubik’s cubes after retirement and even set a world record. During its prior screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, a scene where Yeoh confronts the real-life protagonist at the end of the film also drew significant attention.
Yeoh remarked, “I took on the challenge of playing an elderly woman in her 80s, similar in age to my own mother. I wanted to strongly convey that no matter how old you are, opportunities exist, and you can always find a friend who will absolutely support you.”>
She also expressed her aspirations, saying, “I dream of working with Korean directors,” and “I want to build a bridge that creates films moving back and forth between the East and the West.”>
