TRAIN TO BUSAN Scores Top Fantasia Prizes

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Korean Film News

NEWS & REPORTS

TRAIN TO BUSAN Scores Top Fantasia Prizes

Aug 11, 2016

Writer by Pierce Conran
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Cheval Noir and Audience Award for Zombie Hit

TRAIN TO BUSAN, the year’s biggest Korean film to date, continues to impress around the world after scooping up the Cheval Noir for Best Feature, the top award at the Fantasia International Film Festival. The zombie hit also picked up the Audience Award for Best Asian Film at the 20th edition of the Montreal-based fest.

Directed by YEON Sang-ho, TRAIN TO BUSAN follows commuters on a high-speed train from Seoul to Busan who have to fight for the lives at the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. Previously known as an indie auteur of gritty Korean animations, YEON has been to Fantasia before with both The King of Pigs (2011) and The Fake (2013). The King of Pigs picked up the Satoshi Kon Award there back in 2012.

The film features actor GONG Yoo in the lead, who will be seen again next month in KIM Jee-woon’s highly anticipated Colonial Era action-thriller The Age of Shadows. Co-starring are Don LEE aka MA Dong-seok (One on One, 2014), JUNG Yu-Mi (Our Sunhi, 2013) and popular child actress KIM Su-an (Hide and Seek, 2013).

Following its well-received debut in the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival this year, TRAIN TO BUSAN was released in Korea on July 20th and became the first film of the year to top the ten million viewer mark domestically. The film was released in North America by Well Go USA in late July and has to date grossed USD 1.08 million. Several studios in both France and the US are currently bidding for the film’s regional remake rights.

E J-yong’s new drama The Bacchus Lady picked up the Cheval Noir Awards for both Best Screenplay and Best Actress, which went to lead YOUN Yuh-jung. Another big winner at Fantasia was NA Hong-jin’s hit horror THE WAINLING, which debuted Out of Competition at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film picked up the PRIX AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma) and the Bronze Prize for the Audience Award for Best Asian Feature.