'Zogsool' Dominates Busan Vision Awards With Four Prizes

Sakhya Byamba's "Zogsool" took four prizes at the Busan International Film Festival's Vision Awards on Wednesday, making it the biggest winner of the ceremony.

The Mongolian production collected the Netpac Award and the Fipresci Award, the prizes of the Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema and the international film critics' federation respectively. It added the Vision of Jiseok Award and shared the Hylife Vision Award with Sailesh Rathnakumar's "Selvi." "Selvi" also claimed the Taipei Film Commission Award on its own.

Not bad for one title. Four statuettes, one evening.

How did the Korean titles fare?

Jeong Jihye's "Full Moon" led the domestic field with three prizes: the CGV Award, the K-Movie Award and the Songwon Vision Audience Award – Korea. Park Songyeol's "Beyond Love's Horizon" matched a double, winning the KBS Independent Film Award and the Critic b Award.

Won Hyangra received one of two Actor of the Year honors for her performance in "Beyond Love's Horizon." Kang Seung-ho took the other for "Cosmic Trace." A split decision, then, and a tidy one.

Oh Sehyeon's "Baler" also won twice, pairing the Jeong-in Award with the Citizen Critics' Award. Kim Si-jin's "The Flower" received the DGK Plus M Award.

What happened in the documentary and short film categories?

The BIFF Mecenat Award in the Asian category went to Yang Bo's "Agaar." Yi Seungjun's "Can I Talk to You?" won the Korean side of the same prize, and Choi Se-dam's "A Woman Dancing on the Waves" earned a special mention.

In the short film competitions:

• Soroush Shahpouri's "Fatima" won the Asian Sonje Award.
• Yun Taerang's "Toe's" won the Korean Sonje Award.
• Jung Jaeseo's "The Boy Who Fell to Earth" received a special mention.

Which international prizes went where?

The regional awards spread the wealth across Central and East Asia. Kumamoto Ryohei's "After the Song" won the Face of the Future Award. Arvin Belarmino's "Ria" took The Heart of Eurasia Award.

Chen Jianying's "There Will Be Snow" received the Bishkek International Film Festival-Central Asia Cinema Award. Darkhan Tulegenov's "The Cord" won the International Film Festival of India – Vision Asia Award.

The audience prizes followed the same dispersed pattern:

• Shashank Walia's "Birds in the Dark" won the Songwon Vision Audience Award – Asia.
• Im Yeonjeong's "Recovery" won the Documentary Audience Award.
• "La Bola Negra," directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, won the Flash Forward Audience Award.
• Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak's "Birds of War" took the Busan Cinephile Award.

What comes next for Busan?

The 31st edition of the festival opened Oct. 6 and closes Oct. 15. Its industry arm, the Asian Contents & Film Market, ran Oct. 10–13. The Vision Awards results now set the conversation for the closing stretch, with "Zogsool" as the title to watch on the Asia-Pacific circuit this season.