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- 11th PIFF Names Korean Cinema Award Recipients
- by Nigel D’Sa (KOFIC) / Aug 29, 2006
- Each year, the Pusan International Film Festival presents awards to two individuals who have made outstanding contributions in promoting Korean cinema to the world at large. This year's recipients are Martial Knaebel, director of the Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland, and Terawaki Ken, the former general-director at the Japan Cultural Affairs Department. The award ceremony will take place during the festival which takes place October 12 19, 2006. Knaebel was born in France, and studied Chemistry at Metz University. He began to be involved in the film industry in 1986 when he collaborated with the Fribourg International Film Festival. He became festival director in 1992 and has held that position ever since. The Fribourg International Film Festival is one of the top four film feasts in Switzerland and it has mainly introduced films made in the third world and Asian countries. In addition, Knaebel is one of the founding members of the TrigonFilm Foundation (1988), and has distributed many Asian, Latin American and African films in Switzerland. Knaebel has introduced many Korean shorts and documentary films to the Festival since becoming director. In 1993 he organized a special section showcasing the works by Korean director LEE Jang-ho, along with a special program introducing Korean documentaries at the Festival. Terawaki Ken was born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1952. He started to make comments on films from his high school years, and his comments frequently appeared in the contributors' column of a film magazine, titled Kinema Junpo. He has been an active film critic since 1975 and his book on Korean films is scheduled to be published in 2007. He teaches students film studies at the Department of Cinema, Nihon College of Art and has worked for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology since 1975. He has facilitated cultural exchange, particularly the exchange of films between Japan and Korea as a high-ranking government official at the Cultural Affairs Department, from 2002 to 2006. Hehas introduced about 40 Korean films to Japan by holding 'Korean Independence Film Festival' every year in Tokyo. He has worked closely with the Korean government to promote cultural exchange in the film industry through 'Walking Together: Cross-Cultural Currents Between the Children of Korea and Japan', held in Korea in 2005. Nigel D'Sa (KOFIC)
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