Stream Classics to Latest K-Movies & Shows at OnDemandKorea

Korean student films win multiple awards in Poitiers

Three shorts by Korean film students picked up four awards at the 29th Rencontres Internationales Henri Langlois, held from March 20-26 in Poitiers, France.

The official jury, which considered 60 short and medium-length student films from around the world, presented its Grand Prize ex aequo to two Korean films: Yoo Sung-yup's In The Bed, about a woman taking care of a comatose patient; and UM Hye-jung's Home Sweet Home, about a family who hears on TV that their daughter has been killed in a fire. Home Sweet Home was also awarded the French Critics Discovery Prize.

In addition, KIM Hyo-Jeong of the Korean Academy of Film Arts received the Best Director award for her short Rabbits and Bears, about a chance meeting between a man in a bear suit and a woman in a rabbit suit.

This year's festival also played host to a special "look at Korean cinema", with two separate sections devoted to Korean student films and several feature films also screened, including "The Way Home" (2002), "The Housemaid - 1960" (1960), "Memento Mori" (1999), "Take Care of My Cat" (2001), "A Bittersweet Life" (2005), "Christmas in August" (1998) and "Oasis" (2002).

A special roundtable discussion also considered various aspects of film training in Korea and new directions taken by the Korean film industry. Among the participants were Park Ki-yong of the Korean Academy of Film Arts; Kim Hong-joon of the Korean National University of Arts; and former KOFIC chairman LEE Choong-jik of Chung-Ang University.

Darcy Paquet (KOFIC)

Advertisement

❎ Try Ad-free