BIFF-MPA workshop awards zombie comedy Home Sweet Home

The prize came with a trip to Los Angeles to participate in a five-day film immersion programme that takes place in early November in the lead up to the American Film Market (AFM).

Mike Ellis, president and managing director Asia Pacific, Motion Picture Association (MPA), also awarded two President’s Special Recognition Prizes to Kwon Hyuk Jun’s Hwaran and Choi Sun Young’s My Destiny.

Hwaran is a story about an infertile couple that enters into an arrangement to hire a surrogate mother. My Destiny is a fictional historical drama of how Lee Jiham, a counselor in the Joseon Dynasty, came to write Tojong Bigyeol, a well-known local book on fortune telling.

Kwon and Choi will attend the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs) in Brisbane, Australia, to engage with filmmakers from across the Asia Pacific, in December this year.

The BIFF-MPA Film Workshop involved master-classes, mentoring and a pitching competition at Dongseo University, held in conjunction with the 19th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) 2014.

Nik Powell, UK producer and director of the National Film and Television School, gave a keynote speech and helped judge the pitching competition.

“It’s been a great experience, particularly during the mentoring session when we heard the participant’s stories and worked with them to develop their pitching and presentation skills,” Powell said.

Korean director Bong Joon Ho gave a master class, during which he shared insights into the filmmaking process and his experience working with filmmakers across the world: “Many press asked me what was the difference shooting Snowpiercer in the US. Ninety percent of the crew were Americans or Europeans but the filmmaking process was the same. It was my first English language film but I didn’t care about that. I cared about the story.”