Chinese director Peter Chan speaks at a press conference for his film "Wu Xia" held at the ongoing 16th Busan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea on October 9, 2011. [&Credit]

Famed Hong Kong auteur Peter Chan says his latest film “Wu Xia” demystifies typical martial arts films.

Chan, at the ongoing 16th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in South Korea’s second-largest city of Busan to speak about his Gala Presentation picture “Wu Xia,” made the remark on Sunday while telling reporters how he came to direct his first martial arts, or wu xia, genre pic.

Chan has 20 years of filmmaking experience where a number of his works are box office hits and have won him best-director awards hits yet are mainly comedies, dramas and romantic comedies.

“I think one of the main reasons for making this film was to sort of pay homage to an era of films I grew up with…… Every kid in our generation went through a lot of martial arts films so it’s very deeply rooted, at least in our subconscious,” he started by explaining.

However, he then confessed that he was never a big fan of martial arts and “not someone that indulges in the fantasy element of wu xia” so he decided to go with a style that would make sense to him.

“I decided to use the scientific and medical aspect of it to explain every move… explain what each punch could do to your body, because I thought that's what would interest me as an audience,” Chan said of the movie where he used cutaways to show the internal effects of each strike on the human body.

“What I was trying to do was to use an angle that could be explained realistically for myself,” stated Chan.

Starring actress Tang Wei and actors Takeshi Kaneshiro and Donnie Yen, "Wu Xia" tells the story of paper-maker Liu Jinxi (played by Donnie Yen) who is living a peaceful life with single mother Ayu (Tang Wei) when he accidently kills two robbers who threaten his paper workshop.

Detective Xu Baiji (Takeshi Kaneshiro) tries to unsolve the mystery and uncover the true identity of Liu who might be a member of the 72 Demons, a clan of Tanguts (former rulers of China's neighboring Xiaxia kingdom), and a master martial artist.

The film, which also received favorable reviews at this year's Cannes Film Festival and topped China's box office upon its release in the country in July, will hit theaters in Korea in November.

From left, actress Tang Wei and actor Takeshi Kaneshiro pose during a photocall of a press conference for film "Wu Xia" held at the ongoing 16th Busan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea on October 9, 2011. [&Credit]

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