BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(BUSAN=Yonhap News) The 22nd Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) drew to a close on Saturday with "After My Death" by South Korean director Kim Uiseok and "Blockage" by Iranian director Mohsen Gharaei clinching the top award in the main competition category.

Co-hosted by local movie stars Kim Tae-woo and Han Ye-ri, the closing ceremony was held at the outdoor theater of the Busan Cinema Center in the southern port city of Busan.

The 22nd BIFF is scheduled to wrap up its 10-day schedule following the screening of Taiwanese director Sylvia Chang's "Love Education." The film metaphorically depicts China's modern history through the lives of three women of different generations.


Korean film industry people walk the red carpet to attend the closing ceremony for the 22nd Busan International Film Festival in South Korea's southern port city of Busan on Oct. 21, 2017. A total of 192,991 movie fans visited this year's festival, slightly up from last year, according to the festival. (Yonhap)

Kim and Gharaei shared the New Currents Award, which is given to two best feature films by up-and-coming Asian directors.

"After My Death" sheds light on Korean society through the perspective of a suicidal teen girl, while "Blockage" depicts pain suffered by laborers in Tehran, according to BIFF officials.

The BIFF Mecenat Award went to "Soseongri" by South Korean director Park Baeil and "Sennan Asbestos Disaster" by Japanese director Kazuo Hara.

South Korean director Kwak Eunmi's "A Hand-written Poster" and "Madonna" by Indonesia's Sinung Winahyoko received the Sonje Award.

Korean actors Park Jong-hwan and Jeon Yeo-bin went home with Actor & Actress of the Year Award for their performance in "Hit the Night" and "After My Death."

"Malila: The Farewell Flower" by Thai director Anucha Boonyawatana and "The Scythian Lamb" by Japan's Daihachi Yoshida won the Kim Jiseok Award created this year to honor Kim Ji-seok, deputy executive director of the festival who died of a heart attack while attending the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The 22nd BIFF opened on Oct. 12 featuring 300 films from 76 countries around the world led by the opening film "Glass Garden" by South Korean director Shin Suwon.

The number of attendees at this year's Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) increased about 17 percent from last year to top 190,000, its organizer said Saturday.


Kang Soo-youn (6th from R), executive director of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), and jury members of the festival's 22nd edition pose for photographers during a press conference to mark the closure of the 10-day festival on Oct. 21, 2017. (Yonhap)

In a closing news conference, the BIFF organizing committee said that a total of 192,991 people participated in this year's film festival, a rise of about 17 percent from last year's 165,149.

This year's audience figure, however, fell far short of the 2015 record of 227,377, it noted.

"The audience number increased from last year despite various internal and external difficulties. The Busan film festival has begun to grow again. It has been confirmed that the owners of the festival are the audience and films," Kang Soo-youn, executive director of the BIFF, said at the conference.

Last year, BIFF's status as Asia's largest film festival was nosedived as South Korea's film industry associations boycotted the event massively in protest at what they believe as the sponsoring city Busan's political retaliation over the festival's screening in 2014 of a documentary film critical of then Park Geun-hye government's handling of the Sewol ferry sinking. The ferry disaster claimed more than 300 lives, mostly teenage students, in April that year.

President Moon Jae-in made a surprise visit to the festival on Sunday, pledging government support to help normalize the festival plagued by political influence and budget constraints.

On the sidelines of the film festival, 163 film companies from 23 countries took part in the Asian Film Market, a film content marketplace which drew about 1,600 visitors from 45 countries, up some 200 people from last year.

Kim Dong-ho, chairman of the BIFF board, and Kang resigned from their respective posts as they pledged before, following the closing ceremony.



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