Busan International Film Festival - New Currents Award
The New Currents Award is given to the two best feature films selected from the first or second works of new Asian directors introduced in the New Currents section (a competitive section of BIFF for Asian films). A grand prize of $30,000 is awarded to each film.
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- DirectorMing ZhangStarsXiu JiangBing LiShengguo WangMai Qiang is a 30-year old bachelor, withdrawn, with little in his life besides his job at an isolated signal station along the Yangtze River and his ink drawings he uses as toilet paper. Chen Qing is a hotel clerk, a widow with a young child and an undemanding relationship with her boss Lao Mo. Lao believes she has been raped, so he reports the crime to Wu Gang, the neighborhood cop. Wu investigates, but Chen is uncooperative. Lao then identifies Mai, who is detained and questioned. After Wu gets to the truth of the incident, Mai tries to break out of his loneliness and connect to Chen.
- DirectorKi-Yong ParkStarsLee Mi-yeonJin Hee-kyungJung Woo-sungMotel Cactus consists of four episodes, all of which take place in Room 407 of Motel Cactus, a love hotel in Seoul: (1.) A girl celebrates her birthday with her boyfriend, because it is the only place she feels entirely secure with him. (2.) A student has rented room 407 for several hours to shoot a scene with a girl for his video film, a college project. (3.) A salesman meets a woman in a bar. Both very drunk, they arrive in room 407. Afterwards he is back in the room, alone. (4.) He is soon joined by his old love from his college days. Both are vaguely hoping to rekindle their old relationship.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsHongwei WangHongjian HaoBaitao ZuoA small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.
- DirectorHiroshi OkuharaStarsTakuji AoyagiMikako IchikawaRei FuchigamiKawamoto works and lives in a dilapidated pool hall which also serves as a rehearsal space for him and his friend Chikako. They seem contented to while away their hours doing nothing much at all. Meanwhile, an old pool shark meets some people from his past that he is none too happy to see again. How will this affect their private haven?
- DirectorMarzieh MakhmalbafStarsFatemeh Cherag AkharHassan NebhanShahr Banou SisizadehA film comprised of three interconnected vignettes that depict women at three stages of life in Iran. The first part centers on a young girl on her ninth birthday who is told that she can no longer play with the boys she had been playing with only the day before because she is now a woman. Told from the perspective of a 9-year-old girl who does not feel like or know what the word "woman" refers to, we see how devastatingly this affects both the girl and the boy with whom she had been friends. The second part is about a young woman who decides to enter a bicycle race against her husband's wishes. As first, the husband and then increasing numbers of men from her village ride beside her on horseback to convince her to return home. The race begins to symbolize a freedom that she desperately wants from the limitations that have been placed on her. Finally, the third part shows us an old woman who has come into some money and is now free to do what she wants. The way she chooses to use this freedom, however, makes one wonder just how free she is.
- DirectorSong Il-gonStarsJu-hie SeoYu-jin LimHye-na KimThree women journey to an island rumored to have healing powers.
- DirectorChan-ok ParkStarsPark Hae-ilBae Jong-okMoon Sung-KeunThis award winning debut film from director Park chan-ok tells the story of a young graduate student who takes a job under false pretenses in order to get close to an editor at a magazine. The editor takes advantage of his passive ways and makes him do things for him excessively. Later, the graduate student's girlfriend begins working at the same magazine and begins to get to know the editor. It's here that this story steps off the beaten path...
- DirectorSastry K.N.T.StarsH.G. DattatreyaJaya SheelaBrahmajiThe story of a poor Brahmin who is forced to take alms from so-called lower castes and the impact it has on him and his family from those around him.
- DirectorKang-sheng LeeStarsYi-ching LuChieh ChangMiao TienA grandmother is looking for her grandson, a teenager for his grandfather.
- DirectorAlireza AminiStarsMadjid BahramiMohsen TanabandehTwo men ward off loneliness and boredom while guarding a mine in rural Iran.
- DirectorYoon-ki LeeStarsKim Ji-SooHwang Jung-minKim KkobbiThis film is a restrained, yet thoroughly engaging, study of a female post office worker's emotional life.
- DirectorLu ZhangStarsLianji LiuBo JinGuangxuan ZhuCui, a young Korean mother living on the outskirts of Chinese society, has a husband in jail and a son to support. She barely makes a living selling kimchi to workers along the side of a bleak, industrial road. A love affair with a fellow Chinese-Korean leads to tragic consequences as Cui struggles against the vulnerability of her position.
- DirectorHeng YangStarsQi DaiYi GaoYu LiangAlong a sleepy Hunan riverside, two delinquent boys experience a summer of love and violence. Ali and Xiao Yu are two teenage rebels idling away their days along the banks of a river in Jishou, a quiet town in Hunan province. They steal motorbikes, bully and rob kids, sing karaoke and get into fist fights outside the local internet bar, but their rough exterior belies a deeper romanticism, and a tenderness unfolds between them and their teenage loves. As one day bleeds into the next in this impoverished rural setting, it becomes apparent that these sun-baked days of misspent youth will be the wildest, freest time of their lives.
- DirectorChui Mui TanStarsCoral OngStephen ChuaHo Chi LaiPing leaves her hometown for Kuala Lumper to work with her aunt. During the counteless days of boredom, her niece shares with her conversations with a pen pal during the day, while a young man named John tries to woo her at night even though she already has a boyfriend back home. Although they already set the rules from the every beginning, her belief that love conquers all still slowly strips off all her inhibitions. With authentic and relatable characters, TAN Chui-mui's debut feature was a winner at numerous film festival. There are a thousand ways for love story to be a cliché, but this film is the one that remains true and captivating.
- DirectorAditya AssaratStarsAnchalee SaisoontornSupphasit KansenDul YaambunyingAfter the tsunami struck the coast town of Takua Pa, young architect Ton moves in town to develop a construction project and settles in a small hotel run by Na, a young sensitive local girl. They begin a secret love affair, but soon rumors spread and they meet with strong opposition from the town's residents.
- DirectorGuang-Hao JinStarsJing-Hu ChuiSu-yeon JangA story about the relationships between the disabled man Xiangshu and a deaf-mute girl on the run from the police who takes refuge on his land.
- DirectorSeng Tat LiewStarsZi Jiang WongMing Wei LimJames LeeTwo boys, Li Ahh and Li Ohm, grow up motherless. Their father, Sui, is a workaholic who shuts himself out of the world. The boys' quest to reach out to their father leads them to adopt a puppy. But when the animal is sent away for being a nuisance, the boys are devastated. For the first time, Sui realizes that all his children ask is simply to love and be loved.
- DirectorGyeong-tae RohStarsNellisa ArnadoAdelyn BaconJocelyn Baculi(Korean with English subtitles) A loner, a gypsy-like character, Jiyoung Jang, is an amateur sculptor that lives a very isolated life. Rein, a Filipina, comes to Korea to earn money. She falls in love with Ji-young and marries him but is shocked to discover that he is a transgender.
- DirectorMasahide IchiiStarsSanae KonnoYûki AsamaHayate Ichii
- DirectorShawkat Amin KorkiStarsShwan AttoofHamed DiyarHamajaga HilinInside a beat up stadium in Kirkuk, Iraq, live many refugees trying to escape Sadam Hussein's administration. Asu lives with his younger brother who has lost his legs from a landmine. Next door lives Hilin, who has not been able to express her feelings. One of the only sources of happiness for these people who live amid fear of poverty and bombings is soccer. Asu gathers together the Kurdish, Arabs and Turkish in order to hold a soccer match. Although they are of different races, they become close neighbors.
- DirectorSang-min SoStarsLee Eun-jooLee Hee-joonSang-kyeong HwangThe main character's incessant loving and breaking up clearly illustrates the nature of a third rate poet. He is destined for predicaments, and we watch his journey. This paradox provides a true comedy hard to find nowadays.
- DirectorPark Jung-bumStarsPark Jung-bumJin Yong-wookEunjin KangJeon Seungchul's citizen registration number brands him as a North Korean defector. It is difficult to find a good job and it's hard to get along with people at church. He is not an ex-convict or a migrant worker, but he is subjected to many discriminations. Like the stray dog he looks after, Jeon Seungchul is a misfit in South Korea's capitalist society.
- DirectorYoon SunghyunStarsLee JehoonPark Jeong-minSeo Jun-yeongThree best friends, Ki-tae, Dong-yoon, and Hee-june; they thought their friendship would last forever. A few tiny cracks of distrust start to develop among these best friends. Ki-tae and Hee-june are suddenly filled with misunderstanding and hated, and Ki-tae starts to use violence against Hee-june. When Dong-yoon finds out about Ki-tae's behavior toward Hee-june, he tries to stop Ki-tae but fails. Instead, what started out as little doubts, push these three boys into the point of no return.
- DirectorMorteza FarshbafStarsKiomars GitiSharareh PashaAmir Hossein MalekiA violent quarrel breaks out between a couple at midnight. Being at a relative,s house in the north of Iran, they depart for Tehran in the middle of the night, but they do not bring along their son. Something terrible happens on their way...
- DirectorLoy ArcenasStarsFides Cuyugan-AsensioShamaine BuencaminoTony MabesaThe Lopez-Aranza family are having hard times. The Villa Los Reyes Magos (The House of the Three Kings), their ancestral mansion which is the only remaining emblem of the past wealth and fame of the family, is slowly collapsing into a state of ruin. When former Congressman Gaspar goes into a coma, his opera elder sister Celia waits for a miracle through her grandson Antony clad in Sto, in "Niño" (Holy Infant Jesus) garb. But harsh reality falls on their children, Merced, Mombic, and Raquel, with the inevitable consequence: the impending sale of the mansion for a commercial venture. Celia wages her last battle to regain the glory of the past by hosting a splendid musical soiree, her final eulogy for her own moribund class.
- DirectorNawapol ThamrongrattanaritTer Nawapol ThamrongrattanaritStarsVajrasthira KoramitWanlop RungkumjadPuangpaka AksornsawangA young location scout meets the art director of her project in a day they will keep in their memories for a while, each for their own reasons.
- DirectorMaryam NajafiStarsKayan BennettSeyhan DemirPirouz EbadypourSet in the heart of the Middle-Eastern community in modern-day Vancouver, Kayan is a multifarious story of belonging, loyalty and love. Hanin, a Lebanese independent single mother of two, struggles to keep her restaurant, Kayan, afloat. Unexpected revelations in her private life coincide with complications in the lives of her employees and customers. Things take a twisted turn.
- DirectorSun-Kyeong AhnStarsHo-Jun SungShin Yun-sookIf a woman in her forties loves a 17-year old male that could also be forbidden.
- DirectorByamba SakhyaStarsYondonjamts Bayan OchirSodbileg BayarsanaaGanbaatar ChagnaadorjA runaway living on a rooftop in Ulaanbaatar, Tsog survives by selling milk and retreating into his vivid imaginary world. When he notices a lonely woman living in the building next door, he imagines he has found a kindred spirit and embarks on a mission to intertwine their fates.
- DirectorDae-hwan KimStarsMoon Chang-gilYeong-ran LeeMin-hyeok KimUpon the retirement of the father, who has been a teacher at Cheorwon Technical High School, mother, two sons and daughters-in-law gather in Cheorwon. The retirement ceremony is rather quiet, and father drops the bombshell at a Chinese restaurant while eating. When he announces he will get a divorce, mother is so angry she doesn't know what to say, and the sons and daughters-in-law are confused. Heavy snow hits Cheorwon keeping the buses from operating, and the family start an awkward time at the father's residence.
- DirectorHadi MohagheghStarsYadollah ShadmaniMeysam FarhoumandFatemeh BahadorAyaz, a lonely seventy-year-old man, detests his life. He's constantly in search of ways of ending his life. Some years back, on the way back from a family wedding party, the minibus which he was driving, falls in the bottom of a valley and people on board -all his own family- are killed. Now, Ayaz lives with his teenager grandchild, Ebrahim - who is the last remainder of his family- and his wife's voice on a cassette tape. He loathes being alive.
- DirectorYerlan NurmukhambetovStarsBalnur AsylAsylbek MusabekovRustem ZhanyamanovA young couple from southern Kazakhstan plan to get married. But according to the local tradition, the groom ought to steal the future bride.
- DirectorXichuan ZangStarsZhang ChenZhang HanDahong NiA soon to be homeless, financially destitute, owner of a tire repair shop with many medical expenses turns for help to a rich man in need of an organ donor.
- DirectorXuebo WangStarsShengcang YangShengcang YangChenghua LiMa Zishan (Yang Shengcang) is an aging Muslim farmer, part of the Hui minority. He and his family eke out an existence farming on an arid moonscape in China's northwest Ningxia province. Forty days after his wife dies, Ma must perform a memorial service and invite his village neighbors to a feast. He and his adult son (Yang Shengcang, different actor with same name) make the difficult decision to sacrifice their aging cow for the service, but the cow soon stops eating and drinking, as if in anticipation of its slaughter. Old Ma tenderly cares for the animal, washing it and attempting to feed it; perhaps he sees something of himself in the loyal old beast. Both of them are approaching the end of their natural lifespans, as is the hardscrabble way of life that characterizes their village.
- DirectorKim UiseokStarsJeon Yeo-beenSeo Young-hwaGo Won-HeeMy close friend is dead, and people swam around me for answers.
- DirectorMohsen GharaieStarsHamed BehdadBaran KosariMohsen KiayeeA municipality employee uses his position to put his hands on other people's money to collect enough to buy a truck, while his wife threatens to abort their child if he does not buy a house with their savings.
- DirectorManki KwonStarsYun Ji-hyeKim Dae-geonSu-hyeon KimAfter losing her son, Jungjoo loses all hope in life, drinking and smoking her life away. She tries to overcome the pain by attending church and praying diligently to no avail. Then one day, she meets Mingoo, a convicted criminal, wearing dirty clothes that have not seen a washer in who knows how long. He carries all his belongings in a plastic bag. Seeing him reminds Jungjoo of an event 12 years earlier. Clean up is a film about a woman coming face to face with a past she wants to forget. She kidnaps a child out of desperation and meets that child again 12 years later. The problem is that the child is now poor, lonely and scorned. She can't ignore him, and not remembering who she is the boy feels safe with her. Clean up is a film about salvation and forgiveness. Will the two be able to overcome their feelings of guilt, resentment, and anger? Rather than giving a hasty conclusion, the film advances slowly towards a faint glimmer of hope. (Nam Dong-chul)
- DirectorSiwei CuiStarsChang ChenNi NiFan LiaoBuried by treacherous conditions at the top of Mt. Baekdu, a policeman must brave the extreme weather until his transfer comes through. When a group of thieves stumbles into the station, both sides must fight for survival.
- DirectorMohanad HayalStarsAsaad Abdul MajeedRudhab AhmedMarmar Alhilali2006, Baghdad is ravaged by sectarian violence. Haifa Street is the epicenter of the conflict. Ahmed gets dropped off there by a taxi on his way to his beloved Suad's home to ask for her hand for marriage, he gets shot by Salam, a sniper who's living his own personal hell on a rooftop above.
- DirectorTran Thanh HuyStarsTran Anh KhoaAnh TuJayvee Mai The HiepMovie story revolves around the life, fate of street children, homeless, specializing in selling lottery results every afternoon.
- DirectorYûjirô HarumotoStarsRyô IkedaYumi KawaiYôta KawaseWhile documenting a controversial tragedy that shook her community, a filmmaker must put her morals to the test when a perverse secret in her own life is revealed.
- DirectorRuslan PakStarsZhandos AibassovAskar IlyasovSherkhan PirnazarovSoviet Kazakhstan in 1979. Sher becomes an intern in a team led by the competent Soviet investigator Snegirev. The team is chasing a cannibalistic serial killer. The authorities order the criminal to be treated in a mental hospital due to concerns that this incident might negatively affect the Moscow Olympic Games if it receives international attention. Pak Ruslan, whose 2012 debut feature Hanaan received favorable reviews from film festivals in Busan, Locarno, and Toronto, presents a strong portrayal of bizarre murders and the destruction of a corrupt state system in his second feature Three, a joint project between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and South Korea.
- DirectorKim Se-inStarsJi-ho LymYang Mal-bokYi-jung is in her late twenties and still lives with her mother. Having raised her daughter alone, Su-kyung is now ready to start a new life with her fiancé and leave the past behind. Not so Yi-jung, who from an early age has all too often had to serve as an outlet for her irascible mother's frustrations. The many years of disregard have left her with a crippling mixture of suppressed feelings towards her mother from whom she simply cannot break free. When an argument between the two escalates in a supermarket car park, Su-kyung hits her daughter with her car. Just an accident, the mother claims. Malicious intent, Yi-jung retorts. This rebellion marks the beginning of an arduous process for both women to cut the cord.
- DirectorErzhuo WangStarsYu He HeWang Xi YaoFeng Jie ZengThe difficult lives of the three generations of women are overlapped in lyrical and poetic images.
- DirectorJeong-Hong LeeStarsGi-hong ParkJoomin AhnJeon-gil KimGi Hong is a carpenter who makes his living by taking on small interior work. He has become close to the young landlord and his wife and spends more time hanging out with them. Meanwhile, small but strange things happen to Gi Hong.
- DirectorJaishankar AryarStarsSharanamma ChettiChennamma AbbegereShivamma (46) is a mid-day meal cook in a village government school and the sole breadwinner. Her family is in the process of finding a groom for her daughter. Shivamma has her own affair running alongside.