The 2023 Busan Film Festival has ended / Iranian cinema was not left out

Last night, the 28th Busan Film Festival concluded its work by introducing the winners of this edition, including Nasrin Mohammadpour’s film “21 Weeks Later”

According to Mehr News Agency, citing Variety, last night, the Busan Festival, introducing the winners of this edition, awarded “The Wrestler” and “September 1923” as joint winners of the New Trends Awards

“The Wrestler” by Iqbal H. Choudhury and “September 1923” by Mori Tatsuya jointly won the New Trends Competition Award at the Busan International Film Festival

In the Kim Ji-seok Competition for Experienced Asian Filmmakers, 2 joint winners for Best Film were selected, including “Paradise” by Prasanna Vitanage from Sri Lanka and “The Bride Kidnapping” by Mirlan Abdikalikov

The jury in this section called the film “Vitanage” a demonstration of how a corrupt regime oppresses and dehumanizes a beautiful country by creating obstacles to peace and dehumanizing its citizens. “Bride Kidnapping” was also called a powerful film that vividly depicts the shocking customs and traditions prevalent in Kyrgyzstan with unforgettable characters and a straightforward narrative

“Voices of the Silenced” by Park So-nam and Park Maui and “Republic” by Jin Jang took home the Masnat Award, while “My Dear” by Jeon Do-hee and Kim So-hee and “۲۱ Weeks Later” by Nasrin Mohammadpour shared the Songje Award for Short Film

“Everybody Gotta Love Sometimes,” by Myanmar director Sin Lian Tun, about an Asian immigrant in Paris, also received a special mention

The Audience Award went to Lee Jong-soo’s “The Legacy,” while Anaïs Thelen’s “The Dreamer” won the Audience Award in the Flash Forward category

The Best Actor awards also went to Jang Seong-bum for “A Job to Do” and Oh Minae for “About My Daughter”

The short film “Twenty-One Weeks Later,” directed, written, and produced by Nasrin Mohammadpour, made its international debut at the festival and was Iran’s sole representative in the festival’s short films

This year, no Iranian filmmakers were in the New Trends and Kim Ji-seok competition sections, and Seifollah Samadian’s 76-minute documentary “Kiarostami at Work” was screened in the festival’s Wide Angle section

Earlier Friday, festival organizers congratulated the organizers for holding a successful, slightly smaller festival with a reduced budget. The report described the internal turmoil that had caused sponsors to flee, and said that the festival’s seat occupancy rate had risen to 82 percent from 74 percent last year, with a total of 142,000 spectators

The Asian Film and Content Market also grew alongside the festival, with 2,479 exhibitors from 49 countries taking part. This section occupied 30 percent more exhibition space than last year, with 98 booths. The Asian Project Market hosted 1,826 one-on-one meetings between producers and potential production, financing or distribution partners

The 28th Busan Film Festival, which opened on October 4, ended last night with an awards ceremony

The awards were presented at the closing ceremony on Friday, followed by a screening of “The Emperor of Film,” a dark comedy by Chinese director Ning Hao