Busan Film Festival Unveils 2024 New Currents and Jiseok Award Winners

The Busan International Film Festival has revealed its award winners and confirmed earlier dates for 2025.

Park Ri-woong’s “The Land of Morning Calm” (Korea) and The Maw Naing’s “MA – Cry of Silence”(Myanmar/Korea/Singapore/France/Norway/Qatar) shared the New Currents Award.

Rima Das’ “Village Rockstars 2” (India/Singapore) and Tom Lin Shu-Yu’s “Yen and Ai-Lee” (Taiwan) jointly claimed the Kim Jiseok Award for more experienced filmmakers.

“The Land of Morning Calm” impressed the jury with its “storytelling skills and ability for subtle emotional depth,” exploring personal struggles within a rural coastal community. “MA – Cry of Silence” was recognized for its “courageous portrayal of resistance” to Myanmar’s political challenges. “The Land of Morning Calm” additionally secured the KB New Currents Audience Award. The film also won the NETPAC Award, which announced previously as part of the Busan Vision Awards.

The New Currents Award jury was led by dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof as president, with members including Korean director Lee Myung-Se, Chinese actor Zhou Dongyu, Indian actor Kani Kusruti, and Croatian International Film Festival Rotterdam director Vanja Kaludjercic.

In the Kim Jiseok Award category, “Village Rockstars 2” was praised as an “honest poetic expression of everyday life,” while “Yen and Ai-Lee” was cited for its “unfinishing and bold portrayal of a traumatic mother and daughter relationship.” The jury for this award consisted of Christian Jeune, director of the film department at Cannes Film Festival, Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage, and Korean director Shin Suwon.

The BIFF Mecenat Award for documentaries went to “Works and Days” by Park Minsoo and Ahn Kearnhyung (Korea), and “Another Home” by Frankie Sin (Taiwan/Hong Kong, China/France). The jury for this category included Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Japanese DD Center director Fujioka Asako, and Korean director Lee Soojung.

In the short film category, Song Jiseo’s “Yurim” (Korea) and Eléonore Mahmoudian and Matsui Hiroshi’s “A Garden in Winter” (Japan/France) received the Sonje Award. The Sonje Award jury comprised Korean director Lim Daehyung, American director Constance Tsang, and Japanese director Yamanaka Yoko.

The festival also honored Yoo Lee-ha as actor of the year – male for “The Final Semester” (Korea), and Park Seoyun as actor of the year – female for “Humming” (Korea). The jury for this category included Korean actors Kim Sunyoung and Ryu Junyeol.

Antonella Sudasassi Furniss’ “Memories of a Burning Body” (Costa Rica/Spain) won the Flash Forward Audience Award. Jo Seyoung’s “K-Number” (Korea) took home the Documentary Audience Award.

The 2025 edition of the festival, its 30th, will take place Sept. 17-26, instead of its usual October slot, while the adjacent Asian Contents & Film Market will run Sept. 20-23. The earlier dates are in order to avoid coinciding with the Chuseok mid-autumn harvest festival, which is a three-day national holiday in Korea and falls in October next year.