The 13th Pusan International Film Festival will show 316 movies from 60 countries, including 84 world premieres – starting with Kazakh director Rustem Abdrashev's 'The Gift to Stalin', a drama set against Soviet deportations to central Asia.

Indian director Santosh Sivan is serving on the jury for the festival's top New Currents award with Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf, Danish-French actress Anna Karina, South Korean actress Lee Hwa-si and German producer Karl Baumgartner.

Among the planned highlights of the festival are programmes on Italian directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Asian movies about super heroes and music videos by Asian directors, and a Korean cinema retrospective.

Paolo Taviani, Karina and Hong Kong director Tsui Hark will give talks.

The Asian Filmmaker of the Year award has already been announced and will be presented to Kazakh producer Gulnara Sarsenova, chairwoman of the International Eurasia Film Festival.

While maintaining the event's international profile, organizers are also looking to give the struggling local industry a boost.

Once the pride of Asian cinema for its high-quality productions that could fend off Hollywood blockbusters in the domestic market, South Korean films are in a major slump.