CLEAN UP and SAVAGE Earn Top Busan Film Fest Awards

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CLEAN UP and SAVAGE Earn Top Busan Film Fest Awards

Oct 16, 2018

Writer by Pierce Conran
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Awards Announced for 23rd BIFF

Korean social drama Clean Up, a feature presentation of the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) from debut director KWON Man-ki, and Chinese thriller Savage by CUI Si Wei have picked up the New Currents Awards from this year’s 23rd Busan International Film Festival.

The New Currents jury, led by KIM Hong-joon, Chairman of the Chungmuro International Musical Film Festival, called Clean Up “original, surprising and deeply emotional, with detailed characterization, perfect control and masterful psychological development.” Savage was described as a “strikingly accomplished and riveting first film, exhibiting a mastery of genre cinema, with multi-dimensional characters and thrilling action sequences.”

The Kim Ji-seok Award, named after the BIFF festival co-founder who passed away last year and which is awarded to works screening in the Window on Asian Cinema section, was split between ZHANG Wei’s The Rib from China and the Afghan film Rona, Azim’s Mother by director Jamshid MAHMOUDI.

The BIFF Mecenat Awards, for documentaries screening in the Wide Angle competition section, were won by James T. HONG’s Taiwanese work Opening Closing Forgetting, and ARMY, the latest non-fiction title from A Dream of Iron (2014) director Kelvin Kyungkun PARK. Meanwhile, the Korean doc A War of Memories from LEE-KIL Bora received a special mention. The Sonje Awards for best short films went to Korea’s Cat Day Afternoon by KWON Sung-mo and Ashosh PANDEY Indian film Nooreh.

The Actor and Actress of the year awards, which go to performers among the Korean Cinema Today-Vision titles, were bestowed on two actresses this year - LEE Joo-young in Maggie, and CHOI Hee-seo in Our Body.

Earlier in the week, the festival also announced its Vision’s Night Awards. The NETPAC Award went to KIM Bora’s local drama House of Hummingbird, the FIPRESCI Award was given to Tashi GYELTSHEN’s Bhutan, Germany and Nepal co-production The Red Phallus and Bruce Lee and the Outlaw, an England, Netherland and Czech Republic co-production from Joost VANDEBRUG, earned the Busan Cinephile Award.

The rest of the awards were all reserved for Korean films. YI Ok-seop’s Maggie won the Citizen Critics Award, the CGV Arthouse Award and the KBS Independent Film Award, KIM Jin-yu’s Bori and KIM Yuri’s Sub-zero Wind shared the DGK Award, and the KTH Award was split between KWON Man-ki’s Clean Up and AHN Ju-young’s A Boy and Sungreen.

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