The 22nd Busan International Film Festival has selected 10 official candidates for Kim Ji-seok Award. The Busan International Film Festival newly established the ‘Kim Ji-seok Award’ to honor the late Kim Ji-seok who passed away earlier this year after devoting his life’s career to discovering young Asian directors and supporting the growth of Asian cinema.
Unlike the New Currents section introducing the first or second film of up-and-coming Asian directors, Kim Jiseok Award nominees are selected from films produced by active and skilled Asian directors. Among 10 world premiere films in A Window on Asian Cinema, the section for new films of Asian directors and most-talked films, 2 finalists will be chosen through the jury’s examination and awarded 10,000 USD each.
Kim Jiseok Award is to remember Kim Ji-seok, one of the founding members of the Busan International Film Festival and one of its first Program Directors who dedicated himself to fostering new Asian films and encouraging up-and-coming Asian directors for over 20 years, as well as a leading individual who worked hard to establish the festival identity as the hub of Asian cinema. To preserve the meaning of the Award, Kim Jiseok Award Jury consists of Asian film professionals who maintained close relationship with the late program director and contributed to the globalization of Asian cinema. Film critics Tony Rayns, Darcy Paquet and a representative Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho will serve as first jurors for the Kim Jiseok Award at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival.
The 22nd Busan International Film Festival will be held from October 12, 2017 to October 21, 2017.
2017 Kim Jiseok Award Nominees (Title in Alphabetical order)
Ash l LI Xiaofeng
A medical student, a steelworker, and two murders. Two men reemerge a decade after a young police investigator fails to solve the case, one a success and one saddled with miseries. Unable to leave the past behind, the group of men head towards redemption—or damnation.
The Bold, The Corrupt And The Beautiful l YANG Ya-Che
An ambitious businesswoman who is trying to play the government and industry off each other for personal gain finds herself in trouble after an ingenious plan backfires, leading to murder, and becomes a deadly catalyst that could destroy the life and family she set out to protect.
The Carousel Never Stops Turning l Ismail BASBETH
About a man who never forgets his late wife, newlyweds at a zoo, three girls who travel across the countryside, a prostitute who contemplates her escape, a woman who seeks her mother’s murderer, two farmers who protest against the eviction done by the government, and about a car that witnesses everything.
Goodbye Kathmandu l Nabin SUBBA
Nepal’s brutal civil war wages on during the winter of 2004, three separate characters look for success, identity and love in Kathmandu during a historic upheaval. Amar returns from the US to start a business. Mangal is torn between tradition and rock music, while Robin is pressured to join the Gurkhas.
In the Shadows l Dipesh JAIN
Is Khuddoos trapped within old Delhi’s city walls, in his own mind, or both? That’s the central question in this psychological thriller, in which a lonely man obsesses over the people he watches on hidden cameras, and a boy he fears is in danger.
Malila: The Farewell Flower l Anucha BOONYAWATANA
Former lovers Shane and Pich navigate a break-up, a wife, child, death, and a terminal illness to reunite, separate and reunite in one final transcendent time. Malila is a film about healing, acceptance, guilt, forgiveness, and the ability to understand life’s uncertainties.
The Scythian Lamb l YOSHIDA Daihachi
A government-sponsored program brings six strangers to Uobuka, a small town by the sea. Tsukisue is the pleasant and efficient city official who is in charge of the program. A body is discovered after Tsukisue learns the shocking truth.
Silent Mist l ZHANG Miaoyan
Danger lurks in the fog that hovers over the winding paths of a canal town in modern-day Southern China. Mysterious incidents occur after an old man arrives. At night a rapist seeks his prey while in daylight a wealthy businessman threatens humble shopkeepers.
Smaller and Smaller Circles l Raya MARTIN
When a dead boy from a poor community is found on a trash heap, nobody cares to notice. Forensic specialist Father Gus Saenz investigates as more pre-teen bodies turn up in a Manilla dump site. Based on an award-winning Filipino novel.
Wilderness l KISHI Yoshiyuki
Shinjuku in 2021 is the wilderness, where Shinji, an abandoned child, and Clipper, from an abusive home, hone their boxing skills as a way to find their identities. Opposites except for their shared loneliness, the two ultimately make a connection in the ring.