On Your Lap, the directorial debut of Indonesian actor Reza Rahadian, scooped four prizes in the Vision Awards of Busan International Film Festival, including the KB Vision Audience Award.
The film, about a woman forced to make a living by sitting in men’s laps in a coffee shop in rural Indonesia, also picked up the FIPRESCI Award, the Face of the Future Award and the Central Asia Cinema Award, presented by Bishkek International Film Festival.
The Netpac Award went to Malika, a drama directed by Natalia Uvarova and co-produced by Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ireland.
Kurak, a drama from Kyrgyzstan directed by Erke Dzhumakmatova and Emil Atageldiev, picked up two awards – the Vision of Jiseok Award and the Bangladesh July Memorial Prize.
Indian director Tribeny Rai’s Shape Of Momo was also a multiple winner, picking up the Songwon Vision Award and Taipei Film Commission Award. The Hylife Vision Award was presented to Anshul Chauhan’s Tiger and Sanju Surendran’s If On A Winter’s Night. Shahram Mokri’s Black Rabbit, White Rabbit won the International Film Festival of India – Vision Asia Award.
The Flash Forward Audience Award went to Hana Korea, a Danish-Korean co-production directed by Frederik Sølberg, while the Documentary Audience Award was presented to Wang Micheol’s Where We Stay For A While.
Actor of the Year awards went to Lee Seung-yeon for The Gorals and Moon Woo-jin for The Accordion Door. Other awards for Korean films at the festival included DGK Plus M Awards for Jeong Seung-o’s Coming Of Age and Kim Jinyu’s Journey There, while the CGV Award went to Lee Kwang-kuk’s Beautiful Dreamer.
While BIFF’s main competition awards are being announced this evening, the festival has released its final report which marks a significant increase in audience numbers compared to previous years. Despite fewer public holidays, as the festival was held earlier than usual, total admissions reached 175,889 – an increase of approximately 20,000 – across 328 official selections, including 87 titles from Community BIFF.
In addition, more than 63,000 participants attended events held throughout Busan over ten days, including the return of conference program Forum BIFF after a three-year hiatus.
