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Korean director NA Hong-jin won the Best Director award for <The Yellow Sea> at the recently wrapped Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. One of the world’s leading fantastic (i.e., genre) film festivals, the 44th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia ran Oct. 6 – 16 this year. The festival awarded Best Motion Picture to Red State, directed by Kevin Smith.

Na’s second feature following his acclaimed hit debut <The Chaser> (2008), <The Yellow Sea> is a brutal action thriller which also previously screened in the Cannes film festival’s Un Certain Regard section and at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) where it also won the Best Director award in July. The film stars HA Jung-woo as an ethnic Korean from China trying to pay off his debts by going on a hit mission to Seoul, but who finds himself hunted as the target of a deathly scheme.

Korean films had a strong showing at this year’s Sitges. In the Noves Visions category, the Best Motion Picture award went to <Night Fishing>, by PARKing CHANce – the directorial brand created by brothers PARK Chan-wook (<Sympathy for Lady Vengeance>) and PARK Chan-kyong (<Anyang, Paradise City>). A shamanistic fantasy shot entirely on the iphone, Night Fishing previously also won the Golden Bear for shorts at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year.

In addition, RYOO Seung-wan’s intense criminal thriller <The Unjust> picked up the Best Motion Picture award in the Casa Asia category.

Rounding off the lot, OH Sung-yoon’s hit animation about a hen running off into the wild and raising a duck, <Leafie> won the Best Sitges Family Film Diploma in the animation category.