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MORI Yoshitaka’s manga adapation <Space Brothers> took home both the grand prize Best of Puchon award (USD ~$13,200) and the NH Nonghyup Citizen's Choice audience award at this year’s 16th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan). Korean short <The Fantastic Duo> by JEON Byeong Deock was named Best Short Film (USD ~$4,400). In PiFan’s industry development arm, the Network of Fantastic Films (NAFF), Ted CHUNG’s <Safebreaker> was awarded the top Bucheon Award (USD ~$13,200).

 

Three films combined to take all six available awards in the Puchon Choice: Feature section, which was without a local competitor this year. Aside from <Space Brother>’s two wins, Ireland’s Ciarán FOY was named Best Director (USD ~$8,800) for <Citadel>, which also netted Anuerin BARNARD a Best Actor prize. The Jury’s Choice award was given to Andrew NEEL’s <King Kelly> (US), for which Louisa KRAUSE was named Best Actress.

 

Taking three of four awards in the Puchon Choice: Short section, Korea more than made up for its lack of a feature competitor. Aside from JEON’s top prize for <The Fantastic Duo>, HAN Ji Hye’s <The Birth of a Hero> was named Best Korean Short Film (USD ~$4,400) and KO Jung Wook’s <Poison Frog> impressed audiences enough to earn a Citizen’s Choice award. Toshiko HATA’s stop-motion animation <Rootless Heart> (Japan) was given the Jury’s Choice award (USD ~$2,600).

 

Affiliates of PiFan also hand out a number of sponsored specialty awards. This year, the European Fantastic Film Festival Federation’s EFFFF Asian Award went to Frant GWO and Yang LI’s <Lee’s Adventure> (China) and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) gave its award to Hong Kong’s PANG Ho Cheung for <Vulgaria>. Low-budget Korean comedy <Super Virgin> from BACK Seung Kee took home the FUJIFILM Eterna Award. A number of prizes were also handed out to deserving students at PiFan’s 2nd Youth Film Academy.

 

NAFF’s It Project, one of the world’s only industry markets specifically for genre film, also handed out a number of awards. In addition to the 20 It Project selections, the five Indonesian films invited as part of NAFF’s Project Spotlight were also considered for prizes. After screenings and one-on-one meetings with a jury of industry professionals, CHUNG’s <Safebreaker> (US) took the top prize. Tony KERN’s <Afterimages> (Singapore) was given the NAFF Award and Billy CHRISTIAN’s <Blue Blood> (Indonesia) earned the It Project Special Award, both accompanied by USD ~$8,800. The Korean Broadcasting Academy’s KBAS Award (USD ~$4,400) went to JANG Cheol-soo, director of the much-praised 2010 thriller <Bedevilled>,  for his upcoming feature <Service for People>.

 

Two films -- CHO Changyeol’s <The Weirdo from Mars> and Sidharth SRINIVASAN’s <The Profane> (India/Korea/UK) -- split NAFF’s three sponsored Post-production Support Awards. The two shared the Moneff Award for editing support, while SRINIVASAN won the Lead Sound Award for audio/sound support and CHO was given the Cinemate Award for digital intermediate (DI) support.

PiFan ran from July 19-29 this year and closed with MIIKE Takashi’s <For Love’s Sake>. NAFF ran from July 22-25 and featured a number of panel discussions, industry screenings and an Asian Film Academy in addition to its development/support programs. A full list of awardees follows.

 

Puchon Choice: Feature
Best of Puchon: <Space Brothers> (Japan) Dir: MORI Yoshitaka
Best Director: <Citadel> (Ireland) Dir: Ciarán FOY
Best Actor: Aneurin BARNARD, <Citadel> (Ireland)
Best Actress: Louisa KRAUSE, <King Kelly> (US)
Jury's Choice: <King Kelly> (US) Dir: Andrew NEEL
NH Nonghyup Citizen's Choice: <Space Brothers> (Japan) Dir: MORI Yoshitaka

 

Puchon Choice: Short
Best Short Film: <The Fantastic Duo> (Korea) Dir: JEON Hyeong Deock
Jury's Choice for Short Film: <Rootless Heart> (Japan) Dir: Toshiko HATA
Best Korean Short Film: <The Birth of a Hero> (Korea) Dir: HAN Ji Hye
Citizen's Choice for Short Film: <Poison Frog> (Korea) Dir: KO Jung Wook

 

EFFFF Asian Award: <Lee’s Adventure> (China) Dir: Frant GWO and Yang LI

 

NETPAC Award: <Vulgaria> (Hong Kong) Dir: PANG Ho Cheung

 

FUJIFILM Eterna Award: <Super Virgin> (Korea) Dir: BACK Seung Kee

 

PiFan Youth Film Academy Awards
Bucheon Assembly Speaker Award: <Wriggle> Dir: SHIM Jae Min
PiFan Youth Film Academy Award: <Penpal, Wanted> Dir: HEO Jun Won
PiFan Chairman's Award: <See, Saw> Dir: AHN So Hyun
Gyeonggi Superintendent of Education's Award: <Bang!> Dir: YUN Ji Ae

 

NAFF It Project/Project Spotlight Awards
Bucheon Award: <Safebreaker> (US) Dir: Ted CHUNG
NAFF Award: <Afterimages> (Singapore) Dir: Tony KERN
It Project Special Award: <Blue Blood> (Indonesia) Dir: Billy CHRISTIAN
KBAS Award: <Service for People> (Korea) Dir: JANG Cheol-soo

 

NAFF Post-production Support Awards
Moneff Award: <The Weirdo from Mars> (Korea) Dir: CHO Changyeol; <The Profane> (India/Korea/UK) Dir: Sidharth SRINIVASAN
Lead Sound Award: <The Profane> (India/Korea/UK) Dir: Sidharth SRINIVASAN
Cinemate Award: <The Weirdo from Mars> (Korea) Dir: CHO Changyeol

TAGS: Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, PiFan, Network of Asian Fantastic Films, NAFF, Space Brothers, Citadel, MORI Yoshitaka, Ciaran FOY, King Kelly, Takashi Miike, For Love’s Sake, Jang Cheol-soo, Bedevilled, Service for People, Super Virgin, Vulgaria