The Korea Herald

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Iranian, Filipino films win top awards at Busan film festival

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Published : Oct. 14, 2011 - 21:54

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The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), one of Asia's largest cinematic events, wrapped up its nine-day run in this southern port city of Busan on Friday with Iranian director Morteza Farshbaf's "Mourning" and Filipino director Loy Arcenas' "Nino" winning the festival's main prizes.

The directors took home the festival's New Currents awards, which include a purse of $30,000 for the best feature films by emerging Asian directors.

"Mourning" is a somber road movie about a hearing-impaired couple's journey to return a boy to his parents.

The film is "a very confident attempt to create a new film language that is disturbing at times and heart-warming from moment to moment," China's Hong Kong-based director Yonfan, head of the five-person jury for the New Currents prizes, said in a news conference. "After all, the movie set a new standard of cinematic poetry."

Another winner, "Nino," follows the story of a family entangled by greed, set within the world of opera.

The jury said the film is "a well-scripted, finely interpreted, superbly directed film that turns a familiar family saga to a new Aria in an opera."

(Yonhap News)