Lee Ran-hee’s The Final Semester landed a hat-trick of prizes at Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) on Thursday (October 10).
The Busan Vision Awards, which spotlights emerging independent filmmakers, took place at the Signiel Busan Grand Ballroom in the South Korean port city and was held ahead of tomorrow’s closing night, where the winners of the New Currents and Jiseok competitions will be announced.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Leading the pack was Korean coming-of-age drama The Final Semester, which picked up the DGK Plus M Award, KBS Independent Film Award and Songwon Citizen Critics’ Award.
The coming-of-age story follows a high school student who is also an intern at a factory and contemplates his future alongside his classmate as unfortunate accidents occur around him. It marks writer/director Lee’s second feature after A Leave, which played in BIFF’s New Currents competition in 2020. The Final Semester received its world premiere in the Korea Cinema Today section of the festival. Indiestory handles world sales.
It shared the DGK Plus M Award with Hwang Seulgi’s Red Nails, a Korean psychological drama about a woman who takes in her mother, who is in the early stages of dementia, with an eye on her bank account. It stars Jang Sun, who won actor of the year at BIFF in 2015 for Lee Seung-won’s Communication & Lies.
Winning two prizes on the night was Kim Sung-yoon’s Fragment, a Korean drama in which the son of a murderer and the son of his victims find their lives intertwined at high school. It picked up the CGV Award and Chorokbaem Media Award. Sales of the film are handled by Finecut.
It shared the Chorokbaem Media Award with Korean drama Waterdrop, the feature directorial debut of Choi Jongyong, which premiered in BIFF’s main New Currents competition. The film about a bereaved teenager who goes to extreme lengths to find a new family also picked up the CGK Award for the work of cinematographer Kang Jongsu.
A new Documentary Audience Award, introduced this year to promote non-fiction Asian films and filmmakers, was given to Jo Seyoung’s K-Number. The film follows a Korean woman who was adopted by an American family after being found on the streets as a girl and returns to her homeland in search of her birth mother.
The Fipresci Award went to Tale Of The Land by Indonesian filmmaker Loeloe Hendra. Also playing in New Currents, the Indonesia-Philippines-Taiwan-Qatar co-production follows an indigenous Dayak girl who is haunted by her parents’ death and lives in a floating house with her grandfather.
The NETPAC Award was bestowed on another New Currents contender, The Land Of Morning Calm by Korea’s Park Ri-woong. The Korean drama revolves around the disappearance of a local fisherman, which sends ripples through his coastal community. Hive Filmmworks handles sales.
The 29th BIFF opened on October 2 and is set to close tomorrow (October 11).
Busan Vision Awards 2024
Documentary Audience Award
K-Number, dir. Jo Seyoung
FIPRESCI Award
Tale Of The Land, dir. Loeloe Hendra
NETPAC Award
The Land Of Morning Calm, dir. Park Ri-woong
DGK PLUS M Award
The Final Semester, dir. Lee Ran-hee
Red Nails, dir. Hwang Seulgi
CGV Award
Fragment, dir. Kim Sung-yoon
KBS Independent Film Award
The Final Semester, dir. Lee Ran-hee
CGK Award
Waterdrop, cinematographer, Kang Jongsu
Critic b Award
Inserts, dir. Lee Jong-su
Chorokbaem Media Award
Waterdrop, dir. Choi Jongyong
Fragment, dir. Kim Sung-yoon
Watcha Short Award
Lost Target, dir. Kim Dongeun
Songwon Citizen Critics’ Award
The Final Semester, dir. Lee Ran-hee
Busan Cinephile Award
No Other Land, dirs. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
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