Ha Jung-woo makes final Busan appearance for “The Terror Live”

The final Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) screening of “The Terror Live” (더 테러 라이브) took place at the outdoor BIFF Theater on Oct. 7.  The gripping 90-minute film stars Ha Jung-woo (“The Chaser,” “The Yellow Sea”) as Yoon Young-hwa, a television anchorman who has been demoted to radio, but sees an opportunity to resurrect his career when a terrorist calls him live on the air.  Abandoning caution for greed, Young-hwa chooses to broadcast the standoff, with increasingly harrowing and deadly consequences.  The film is unveiled in a real-time manner similar to the American television series “24,” except the majority of the story is shot from Young-hwa’s precarious perch in his studio.

Before the screening, Ha told spectators why he chose to star in “The Terror Live,” which has been out in South Korea since Aug. 1.  “I was pretty confident about the success of “The Terror Live,”” Ha said.  “When I first read the script and met director Kim Byung-woo – and also the fact that [producer] Lee Choon-yeon was involved in the whole project – it gave me lots of confidence.  The last part which gave me tons of confidence was when I saw the edited version of the first half of the film during production.  I realized that this was going to be a definite hit.”

Video: “The Terror Live” – 2013 Busan International Film Festival, Oct. 7, 2013 screening
video by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine

Actor Ha Jung-woo, director Kim Byung-woo and producer Lee Choon-yeon appear before the outdoor screening of “The Terror Live” in Busan. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)

A BIFF photographer takes an onstage photo of “The Terror Live” actor Ha Jung-woo, director Kim Byung-woo and producer Lee Choon-yeon with spectators waving in the background. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)