Taiwanese film wins top prize at Busan Int'l Film Festival

Seoul, Oct. 11 (CNA) Taiwanese film "Yen and Ai-Lee" (小雁與吳愛麗) won the Busan International Film Festival's (BIFF) top prize "Kim Jiseok Award" on Friday, marking the first Taiwanese film to receive the award.

A press conference was held on the last day of the BIFF on Friday to announce the winners of various awards, including the "Kim Jiseok Award," which is presented to the two best films in the competition category for Korean and Asian directors who have directed more than three feature films, with a cash prize of US$10,000 awarded to each winning film.

Among the eight nominated Asian movies, the Taiwanese film "Yen and Ai-Lee" and the India-Singapore co-production "Village Rockstars 2" received the "Kim Jiseok Award," which is named after the South Korean co-founder, deputy director and head programmer of BIFF.

The jury commented that the Taiwanese film was "an unfinishing and bold portrayal of a traumatic mother and daughter relationship with powerful, beautiful performance," the BIFF official website showed.

According to the BIFF's introduction of "Yen and Ai-Lee," the 108-minute black-and-white film, directed by Tom Lin (林書宇), features actresses Yang Kuei-mei (楊貴媚) and Kimi Hsia (夏于喬), who both "breathe life into this tense, love-hate relationship between mother and daughter" in the movie.

After learning of the award, Lin said that just being nominated for it was already incredibly meaningful, and he had not expected to win.

"I sincerely thank the BIFF and the late Mr. Kim Jiseok," Lin said. "Since my very first feature film, each of my films has been selected for the BIFF, giving them a chance to be seen by the world," he added.

The two actresses both felt honored to receive the award. Yang, a Golden Horse Award-winning actress who had known Kim for years before his passing in 2017, said she felt particularly touched to be part of a film that won an award named after him.

She recalled that Kim was a sincere and great film professional who "cared deeply for Taiwanese films and filmmakers."

After its world premiere on Oct. 4 at the BIFF, "Yen and Ai-Lee" was released in Taiwan on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a Taiwan-Hong Kong-France co-production "Another Home" (日泰小食) won the BIFF Mecenat Award, which recognizes the best documentary from Korea and Asia in the Wide Angle competition section.

The film, directed by Hong Kong director Frankie Sin (冼澔楊), "captures the spirit of a society in a state of revolution within the context of everyday life," according to the jury comment.

The 84-minute documentary is about an elderly couple and their old food stall on Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong. The director uses the "food stall as a stage to observe how the Hong Kong (2019) pro-democracy protests and the subsequent (Covid-19) pandemic transform their lives," according to the film's introduction on the BIFF official website.