A jury comprised of Chinese filmmaker CHEN Kaige, Bosnian director Danis TANOVIC, Hong Kong cineaste Mabel CHEUNG, Australian film producer Paul CURRIE and Indian actress Tillotama SHOME described
Clean Up as “a powerful, visceral film which is symbolic and naturalistic at the same time… The director unfolds a psychological drama with simmering intensity, and humanists the criminal without condoning the heinous crime in any way.”
A graduation project from the
Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), which has been responsible for previous festival favorites such as
YOON Sung-hyun’s
Bleak Night (2011) and
KIM Ui-seok’s
After My Death,
Clean Up follows a divorced woman who works for a cleaning service whose life is turned upside down following the arrival of a recently paroled new co-worker who forces her to come to terms with dark secrets hidden in her past. YOON Ji-hye (
Asura : The City of Madness, 2016) plays the woman while new face KIM Dae-gon features as her younger new co-worker.
Aside from taking the top prize in Busan’s signature New Currents competition, the indie drama also earned the KTH Award at BIFF. KIM’s work also screened at the Chicago International Film Festival earlier this year.