2 films won Audience Award at Far East Film Festival

Korean films "The Crucible" and "The Front Line" won Audience Awards at the 14th Udine Far East Film Festival which closed Saturday in Udine, Italy.

According to the official homepage of the festival, "The Crucible" directed by Hwang Dong-hyeok and "The Front Line" directed by Jang Hoon won awards with scores of 4.40 and 4.16 points, respectively. China's "One Million Above" won the same honor with 4.20 points.

"The Crucible" is based on real-life events at a school for the deaf where young students were cruelly treated and even sexually abused by their teachers and administrators. The movie was a huge box-office hit in Korea, attracting 4.7 million viewers and provoking debate on such issues.

The film incited a storm of commentary on the Internet, together with increasingly louder calls for measures to address the issues raised in the film.

The prosecutors conducted reinvestigations into the alleged sexual abuse at the school and lawmakers passed a bill to provide additional protection to the disabled and others considered at risk.

"The Front Line", which attracted 3 million moviegoers, is about the 1950-1953 Korean War. It portrays the battles that took place on just one of many hills that were fiercely contested by the South and North Korean armies in February 1953 while the two sides were engaged in armistice negotiations. During the negotiations, soldiers stationed on the front line battled desperately to secure even small amounts of territory.

The Udine Far Easter Film Festival is a representative European film festival to introduce Asian films in Europe.

A total of 10 South Korean films, including the two award winners, were invited to the festival. Others included "Unbowed", "Sunny - 2010" and "Dangerously Excited". (Yonhap)