France's 'Rubber' Wins as PiFan Wraps

SEOUL -- The 15th Puchon (Bucheon) International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) wrapped up over the weekend, with South Korea thriller Blind making its premiere as the closing film.

our editor recommends

Rubber: Film Review

The top prize, the 15 million-won ($14,200) Best of Puchon Award for best feature film in competition, went to France’s Rubber.

PiFan officially closed Sunday with its signature weekend program of offering repeat and surprise screenings following the awards ceremony on July 22.

Kim Ha-neul, heroine of Blind, graced the red carpet for the closing event, alongside the festival’s honorary ambassador Park Bo-young, who has become the nation’s sweetheart after playing the lead in The Scandal Makers.

Juno Mak, winner of this year’s Best Actor Award for his performance in the Hong Kong film Revenge: A Love Story, appeared with his co-star Sora Aoi and director Wong Ching Po.

Korea’s Na Hong-jin was named Best Director for The Murderer (a.k.a. Yellow Sea) and took home a cash prize of 10 million won ($9,470), while Sweden’s Myanna Buring won the Best Actress Award for her performance in Kill List from the United Kingdom.

The Korean film Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley, directed by Ji Ha Jean, won both the European Fantastic Film Festival Federation (EFFFF) Asian Award and the Fujifilm Eterna Award for best Korean feature with a prize of film stock.

The Jury’s Choice award went to Bat-Uulzii Baatar’s Operation Tatar from Mongolia, while the NH Nonghyup Citizen’s Choice went to the Japanese film Slapstick Brothers by Hiroshi Shinagawa.

The NETPAC Award for the best Asian film in the Vision Express section was awarded to Japanese film Hospitalite, directed by Koji Fukada.

Meanwhile the closing film Blind is slated to open in local theaters on Aug. 11.