The 24th Busan International Film Festival has finalized jury members for the New Currents section and the Kim Jiseok Award.

5 Jury members of the New Currents to discover new Asian talents

The New Currents section, a competitive section of the Busan International Film Festival for Asian films, introduces first or second features of up-and coming directors, who are leading the way for new Asian cinema. Jury members will announce two selections at the Closing Ceremony, which will be awarded USD 30,000 each.
The head juror of this year’s New Currents Competition section is Mike Figgis. Figgis achieved great fame as a director for Leaving Las Vegas (1995) by winning the Best Director Award from the National Society of Film Critics. He made a special bond with the 2nd Busan International Film Festival in 1997 where One Night Stand (1997) was screened. Karel Och, artistic director of the Karlovy Vary IFF, Samal Yeslyamova, the winner of the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival 2018 for Ayka, and Lee Sinje, the first Malaysian awardee of the Best Actress Award at the Golden Horse Awards in 2002 for The Eye, are commissioned as jurors to sit with Mike Figgis. Suh Youngjoo, the CEO of Fine Cut, who has helped internationally distribute numerous Korean films will sit on the jury panel with the other four.

3 Jurors for the Kim Jiseok Award, with a goal to encourage and discover the growth and new talents of Asian Cinema

The Kim Jiseok Award has announced 3 jurors. The Kim Jiseok Award is a new award established in 2017 to remember and honor the late Kim Ji-seok. Jury members will select the final two from A Window on Asian Cinema, a section for the latest and most-talked films of Asian directors. Each film will be awarded USD 10,000.
Jury members include Mohsen Makhmalbaf, an acknowledged Iranian director who has made numerous acclaimed films that include Gabbeh (1996) and Kandahar (2001); Huh Moonyung, a current program director of the Busan Cinema Center who served as the film programmer for the Busan International Film Festival and the dean of Cinematheque Busan along with Tan Chui Mui, the winner of the New Currents Award for Love Conquers All at the 11th Busan International Film Festival in 2006.



[Biography: New Currents Jurors]

Mike FIGGIS / Head Juror / Director / UK
Film director, musician, writer, curator, and photographer – Mike Figgis is an artist whose work has spanned across various disciplines. Following the success of his debut theatrical film Stormy Monday (1988) in the United States, he entered the world of commercial filmmaking. Figgis was celebrated internationally with the success of Leaving Las Vegas (1995) which gained him great plaudits and won several awards, including the Best Director Award at National Society of Film Critics Awards 1995, and the Academy Award for the Best Actor for Nicolas Cage. Encouraged by this huge success, Figgis explored more experimental and minimal approaches to filmmaking and directed Timecode (2000), the first real-time digital film ever made. Figgis now actively explores alternative strategis in film production, designing both economic and creative platforms for contemporary filmmakers.

LEE Sinje / Actress / Malaysia
Lee Sinje made her debut Betelnut Beauty (2001) and won the New Talent Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. She earned a big splash with The Eye (2002) and became the first Malaysian recipient of the Best Actress Award at the Golden Horse Awards in 2002. In the same year, she won the Best Actress Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Golden Bauhinia Awards, and Chinese Film Media Awards, marking her as a world-famous star. She was invited as a jury member to the Taipei Film Festival and Golden Horse Awards, and has been the ambassador of the Malaysia International Film Festival since 2017.

Karel OCH / Artistic Director / Czech Republic
Karel Och studied film theory and history at Prague’s Charles University. Since 2001, he has worked for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as a selection committee member and also curated filmmaker retrospectives, including Sam Peckinpah, John Huston and Elio Petri among many others. He was appointed as an artistic director of the Karlovy Vary IFF in 2010. He is now a member of the European Film Academy, the Lux Prize selection, and FIRESCI.

SUH Youngjoo / Chief Executive Officer / Korea
Suh Youngjoo, the CEO of Finecut Co., LTD., has produced, financed, and internationally distributed more than 200 Korean and co-produced films: Burning (2018), Poetry (2010), and Oasis (2002) by Lee Chang-dong, Old Boy (2003) by director Park Chan-wook, The Host (2006) by director Bong Joon Ho, A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) by director Kim Jeewoon, The Wailing (2016) and The Chaser (2008) by director Na Hong-jin, and of course many of director Hong Sangsoo’s. She continuously challenges new attempts in the film industry by establishing an actor management division, Finecut Entertainment, and Korea’s first Writers Agency (WAF).

Samal YESLYAMOVA / Actress / Kazakhstan
A Kazakh actress, Samal Yeslyamova graduated from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) with a specialization in directing and acting. She starred in the film Tulpan (2008) by director Sergey Dvortsevoy, which won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. She also won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for Ayka (2018), marking her as a renowned leading actress.



[Biography: Kim Jiseok Award Jurors]

HUH Moonyung / Film Critic / Korea
Huh Moonyung started his career as a film journalist and then a film programmer for the Busan International Film Festival and a director of Cinematheque Busan. He has also served as a film critic for some film magazines and published two books on film. He is now working for the Busan Cinema Center as a program director, and a contributor for a bimonthly film magazine FILO.

Mohsen MAKHMALBAF / Director/ Iran
Mohsen Makhmalbaf is an Iranian director, writer, producer. He is known as one of the most in?uential ?lmmakers and founders of the new wave of Iranian cinema in the world today. During his career Makhmalbaf has made numerous critically-acclaimed ?lms including, Salaam Cinema (1995), Time of Love (1990), Gabbeh (1996), A Moment of Innocence (1996), The Silence (1998), Tales of Kish (1999), Testing democracy (2000), Kandahar (2001), Scream of the Ants (2006), The President (2014) and The Night of Zayandeh-Rood (1990). He is the recipient of more than 50 international awards from some of the most prestigious ?lm festivals across the world. His ?lm Kandahar has been chosen as one of the top 100 best movies of history of cinema by Times
Magazine. And his ?lm A Moment of Innocence has been selected as one of the top 10 best ?lms of the 90s amongst the directors of world international ?lm festivals. As a writer- director Makhmalbaf has also published more than 30 books, many of which have been translated and published in many languages.

TAN Chui Mui / Director / Malaysia
Born in Malaysia, Tan received the New Currents Award and FIPRESCI Award at the 11th Busan International Film Festival for Love Conquers All (2006). She received inaugural reviews and awards from numerous international film festivals including International Film Festival Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and has served as a jury member at the Busan International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam and Pacific Meridian International Film Festival. She pioneered the Malaysian New Wave Cinema thanks to her founding of the Da Huang Pictures in 2005. Tan is constantly consolidating her position as a prominent actress, both in name and reality as well as a platform organizer to discover new Malaysian talents.