BUSAN, South Korea, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - A glittering parade of stars waltzed down the red carpet but a drama from Kazakhstan was the real talk of the town as one of Asia's leading film festivals opened here Thursday night.

Fireworks lit up the night sky as thousands of screaming fans greeted their screen idols attending the opening of the 13th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), including veteran director Im Kwon-Taek and rising star Jung Jin-Young).

In a bold move, organisers chose director Rustem Abdrashev's 'The Gift to Stalin' as the festival's opening film.

With a story set in the dark days of the former Soviet Union's forced repatriations of the late 1940s, Abdrashev's tale managed to touch hearts.

'This is the first film to deal with this issue,' said Abdrashev. 'This is our generation's perspective on history, on the past. So it is difficult to say what people will think.'

He said the important thing was just to tell the story as he saw it.

Abdrashev's film was scripted by noted Russian writer Pavel Finn and follows the trials of a Jewish boy as he is dumped in the middle of the Kazakh steppe in the lead-up to the Soviet Union's first nuclear explosion.

'My country is one of many cultures and that is part of our strength,' said the director.

'And I hope people can see that in this film.'

Festival director Kim Dong-Ho said the choice of 'The Gift to Stalin' was in keeping with the festival's aim of introducing new and exciting productions and trends to the Asian film-going public.

'This film is a joint production between Kazakhstan, Russia, Israel and Poland and so shows an exciting new trend in cross-productions,' he said.

Kazakh movies have been capturing attention over the past year, with the epic 'Mongol' in the running for best foreign film at this year's Academy Awards, the first time a film from the country had been given such an honour.

Organisers would have been glad to finally get the show underway after the previous 24-hours in which one major film was withdrawn, and one of its VIP guests struck down by a mystery illness.

Veteran Chinese director Tsui Hark's 'All About Women' was due to make its world premiere at the festival but had to be pulled when Chinese censors ran out of time to clear the production before heading off on their National Day holidays, according to a studio representative.

Then noted Iranian director Samira Makhmalbf was rushed to hospital suffering shortness of breath before she was due to fly from Paris to Busan, festival organisers said, correcting an earlier announcement that she had been taken ill after arriving in South Korea.

Makhmalbf, who had been due to be on the New Currents award jury, was Thursday night undergoing treatment in the French capital.

The festival will feature 315 films from 60 nations during its nine day run.

Its only competitive section, the New Currents award for first or second-time Asian filmmakers, has this year been expanded to feature 14 films from as far afield as Iran and Japan, and it will be announced on October 10, the final day of the festival.