Lu Po-Shun's Debut Hits Busan After Sold-Out San Sebastián — SkimNews
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- Lu Po-Shun brings his debut feature "Will You Still Be My Friend" to the Busan International Film Festival's A Window on Asian Cinema strand, following its San Sebastián premiere and two Golden Horse nominations for adapted screenplay and new performer.
- The film is set in Yunlin County on Taiwan's southwest coast and follows two boys whose friendship strains as adult conflicts over solar energy development and local politics divide their community, expanding Lu's pandemic-anthology short "When Henge Meets Crescent."
- Jaden Wang, a boy of Taiwanese and Italian heritage discovered by Lu through his mother's social media account, earned the Golden Horse new-performer nomination; Lu said Wang already played basketball and did lion dancing, the exact skills the character required.
- San Sebastián audiences responded enthusiastically: all four screenings sold out on the first day of ticket sales, and the film ranked among the top three during voting for the festival's youth award.
- "Will You Still Be My Friend" opens theatrically in Taiwan on Dec. 4 with a general-audience classification, while Moveria handles international sales and producer Yu-Hao Su will work the Busan market.
- Lu serves as both director and executive producer on the film, citing Hou Hsiao-hsien's "The Boys From Fengkuei" and François Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" as formative influences during film school.
Why it matters: Lu's sold-out San Sebastián run and double Golden Horse nod mark a breakout debut for a first-time Taiwanese filmmaker, while the Dec. 4 Taiwan theatrical release and Busan market push by Moveria test whether a Yunlin-set coming-of-age film that threads local solar-energy politics into adolescent friendship can secure broader international distribution.
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