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PiFan closes with Blind premiere, Rubber takes top prize

by KOFIC staff

The 15th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) held its closing awards ceremony Friday, July 22 with Korean thriller "Blind" making a world premiere as the festival's Closing Film. The Best of Puchon Award with KW15m went to the French film Rubber, directed by Quentin Dupieux.
 
Starring Kim Ha-neul and Yoo Seung-ho, "Blind" is directed by Ahn Sang-hoon who previously directed the horror film "Arang". All three were on hand to present the film at the closing ceremony.
 
Also gracing the ceremony - the team from the Hong Kong film Revenge: A Love Story, director WONG Ching Po and stars AOI Sora (a.k.a. Sola AOI) and Juno Mak, who won this year's PiFan Best Actor Award. The trio reportedly came straight from the New York Asian Film Festival where they had been presenting the film as well.
 
The Best Director Award with KW10m ($9,470) went to Korea's Na Hong-jin for his thriller "The Yellow Sea". Best Actress went to Myanna BURING for her performance in Kill List from the UK.
 
The Jury's Choice award went to the Mongolian film Operation Tatar, directed by Bat-Uulzii Baatar while the NH Nonghyup Citizen's Choice went to Shinagawa Hiroshi's film Slapstick Brothers from Japan.
 
The European Fantastic Film Festival Federation (EFFFF) Asian Award went to the Korean film "Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley", directed by JI Ha Jean. The film also took the Fujifilm Eterna Award for best Korean feature. The award comes with a prize of Fujifilm stock.
 
The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Award for the best Asian film in the Vision Express section went to Japanese film Hospitalite, directed by FUKADA Koji.
For further awards, please see the list below.
 
After the closing awards ceremony, PiFan held two more days of "post-festival" repeat and surprise screenings and wrapped on July 24.
 
Other awards include…
Puchon Choice Short - Official Competition
- Best Short Film (KW5m): Dead on Time (Greece) dir. Kostas SKIFTAS
- Jury's Choice for Short Film (KW3m): The Origin of Creatures (The Netherlands) Floris KAAYK
- Best Korean Short Film (KW5m): "The Adult's Flesh", dir. JEONG Ki-jeong
- Prugio Citizen's Choice for Short Film: "The Southern Plains" (Korea) OH Dong-wok
 

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PiFan Youth Film Academy Awards
- PiFan Youth Film Academy Award: "Misunderstanding", dir. KIM Soo-jung
- PiFan Chairman's Award: "The Cheater" KIM Seoung-kyuen
- PiFan Festival Director's Award: "Like a Genie", dir. MIN Soo-ji

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