The Forbidden Door, a thriller from Indonesian director Joko Anwar, was awarded the Best of Puchon prize at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) on Thursday night.

Best director went to Hong Kong’s Dante Lam for The Beast Stalker, which was also given a special mention for actor Nick Cheung. Stephen McHattie took best actor for Canadian thriller Pontypool, while Shareefa Daanish took best actress for Singapore-Indonesian horror film Macabre.

Both the Jury’s Choice and Prugio Citizen’s Choice awards went to Korean horror The Neighbour Zombie – an omnibus film with a colourful and protracted production history.

Indonesia featured prominently throughout the night – in addition to Anwar and Daanish’s awards, the festival’s closing film was Indonesian martial arts title Merantau. Directed by the UK’s Gareth Huw Evans, the film is billed as the first martial arts film out of Indonesia in decades.

In total, 202 films from 41 countries played at the 13th edition of PiFan, which registered more than 90% occupancy at screenings. The festival continues until Sunday with three days of “encore” screenings.

Puchon Choice winners:

Best of Puchon: The Forbidden Door – Joko ANWAR (Indonesia)

Best Director: The Beast Stalker – Dante LAM (Hong Kong)

Best Actor: Pontypool – Stephen MCHATTIE (Canada)

Special mention: The Beast Stalker – Nick Cheung (Hong Kong)

Best Actress: Macabre – Shareefa Daanish (Singapore/Indonesia)

Jury’s Choice: The Neighbor Zombie – OH Young Doo, RYU Hoon, HONG Young Guen, JANG Yoon Jung (Korea)

Prugio Citizen’s Choice: The Neighbor Zombie (Korea)

European Fantastic Film Festival Federation Asian Award Winner: Chocolate –Prachya Pinkaew (Thailand)

Netpac Award Winner: 8000 Miles – IRIE Yu (Japan)

Fujifilm Eterna Award Winner: Turn It Up to 11 – BAEK Seung Hwa (Korea)

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