28th BIFF comes to an end

 Some 140,000 moviegoers visited Busan, watching 209 films from 70 countries

Actors Hong Kyung (left) and Go Min-si pose for a photo on the red carpet prior to the closing ceremony of BIFF in Busan on Friday. (Yonhap)

The 28th Busan International Film Festival came to an end Friday, completing its 10 day-run. The event saw some 140,000 moviegoers visit the port city to watch 209 films from 70 countries.

The closing ceremony for this year’s BIFF, hosted by actors Go Min-si and Hong Kyung, was held at the Busan Cinema Center.

As part of the ceremony, the festival bestowed "The Wrestler” by Iqbal H. Chowdhury and “September 1923” by Mori Tatsuya with the New Currents award -- an award given to the two best feature films selected from the first or second works of new Asian directors.

The Jiseok competition section, which was newly established last year and named after BIFF senior programmer Kim Ji-seok who has contributed to the development and support of Asian films, went to “Bride Kidnapping” by Mirlan Abdykalykov and “Paradise” by Prasanna Vithanage.

This year’s Actor of the Year award went to Oh Min-ae and Jang Sung-bum, who starred in “Concerning My Daughter” and “Work to Do,” respectively.

Director Ning Hao’s “The Movie Emperor” was screened at the end of Friday’s closing ceremony.

According to the organizing committee, the films at BIFF were screened at 25 theaters across Busan during the festival, with a seat occupancy of 82 percent.

“We would like to thank the visitors for a successful end to the festival. There are many K-content-related stories, but the film industry seems to be worrying less about how to make a good environment for (such stories). It is something we should all think about,” said Nam Dong-chul, acting executive chair of BIFF.

By Kim Da-sol(ddd@heraldcorp.com)