PUSAN -- The PIFF Asian Film Market ended Thursday with a gala celebration and awards for participants in this year's Pusan Promotion Plan, now celebrating its 10th anniversary of supporting indie helmers and producers.

The top PPP prize, the Pusan Award, went to veteran Chinese helmer Wang Xiaoshuai for "11 Flowers," a drama about a boy's encounter with a man on the run. Supported by the city government of Busan, the prize is worth $20,000.

Korean docu-maker Park Ki-bok won the Kodak Award, for which Kodak Korea supplied $20,000 in negative film, for his drama "Farewell," about a middle-aged man running from creditors -- and about to opt for suicide.

Mikayel Vayinyan, an Armenian theater director and actor, scooped the Goteborg Film Festival Fund prize, which provides travel and accommodation expenses to selected helmers, for "Joan and the Voices," a drama about a woman on a search for self in post-war (late 1990s) Armenia.

Veteran Japanese helmer, Sion Sono received the Cineclick Asia Award for "Room of Dreams," an SF-ish pic about an experimental drug that induces a virtual reality that turns into a nightmare. In addition to a $10,000 cash prize, Sono may get a first option deal with int'l sales and co-prod outfit Cineclick Asia.

Vietnamese helmer Phan Dang Di won the Busan Film Commission Award, which provides $10,000 to an outstanding Asian project, for his first-feature family drama "Bi, Don’t Be Afraid."

Finally, Korean-American Michael Kang was awarded the Overseas Korean Foundation's OKF Fund, a prize for a Korean-born overseas director, for his African adventure yarn "The Sea of Tranquillity."

Among other prizes handed out at the event was the Co-production PRO Members’ Choice award to Korean thesp Yang Jin-woo Given by members of Co-production PRO -- PIFF's new co-production pitch event -- the prize honors the outstanding participant in Star Summit Asia’s Curtain Call, which showcases rising Asian thesps with international potential.

Held this year from Oct. 8 to 11, the PIFF Asian Film Market and its sister events PPP, Co-production PRO, Star Summit Asia and BIFCOM attracted a total of 3,600 participants over a four-day period, keeping the elevators in the Grand Hotel in a semi-permanent state of paralysis. The PPP org, which published a book celebrating its decade of achievements, hosted 500 meetings for 35 projects.

 

(Written by Mark Schilling, 12 October 2007, www.varietyasiaonline.com)