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The 16th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) ended its nine-day run on Oct. 14 with the New Currents Award going to two films - Morteza FARSHBAF’s Iranian film Mourning and Loy ARCENAS’s Filipino film Nino. The Flash Forward Award went to Guido LOMBARDI’s Italian film La-Bas -A Criminal Education. All three films were awarded US$30,000 each.

 

New Currents jury head Yonfan stated that Mourning “sets a new standard of cinematic poetry” while Nino“is a well-scripted, finely interpreted, superbly directed film that turns a familiar family saga to a new Aria in an opera.”

 

Mourning also picked up the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award.

 

Flash Forward jury head Gillian ARMSTRONG described La-Bas as “a multilayered, simply told story of the contemporary issue of migration.”

 

One of the front-running buzz films of the festival amongst critics and programmers, Korean animation <The King of Pigs> snapped up the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Award as well as the DGK Director’s Award. The NETPAC jury described YEUN Sang-ho’s animation as “A brilliantly stylized animated thriller epitomizing the gruesome social inequality and debased humanity through the eyes of tormented adolescents with invigorating energy, emotional momentum and unsettling honesty.”

 

Winner of the Sonje Award for Korean short film was LEE Woo-jung’s See You Tomorrow with a Special Mention for O Hyun-ju’s Bugging Heaven; Listen to Her.

 

PARK Bae-il’s Sea of Butterfly (Korea( took the BIFF Mecenat Award for documentaries along with Yoko IDE’s Shoji & Takao (Japan). The KNN Movie Award, a.k.a. the Audience Award, went to  Watch Indian Circus, directed by Mangesh HADAWALE.

 

The DGK Best Actor Award went to HA Hyun Kwan for his performance in Beautiful Miss Jin (Korea) while the Best Actress Award went to HAN Song Hee and WHANG Jungmin for their performances in Jesus Hospital (Korea).

 

BIFF closed after screening 307 films from 70 countries. The festival’s Closing Film was HARADA Masato’s Chronicles of My Mother.

Oct. 17, 2011