Busan's Top Prize Becomes a Path to the International Oscar This Week
Summary
Busan crowns its first Oscar-eligible winner as the festival wraps this week, as Fjord, Minotaur and The Spiral headline a crowded field ahead of the December 15 shortlist.
"The Busan International Film Festival wraps Thursday, October 15, and the winner of this year's Busan Award for Best Film, its top competition prize, can be submitted for the Academy Awards' Best International Feature Film category for the first time, Korea.net reported. Busan is one of six festivals, along with Berlin, Cannes, Sundance, Venice and Toronto, whose top prizes now qualify films under rules the Academy adopted this year, according to Screen Daily. Zhang Yimou leads the competition jury, which is considering 13 films.
National submissions were due October 1. Romania has entered Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner Fjord, France has submitted Andrey Zvyagintsev's Cannes Grand Prix winner Minotaur and Italy has chosen Paolo Strippoli's supernatural thriller The Spiral, Outlook India reported. The Academy will announce a 15-film shortlist on December 15, with nominations on January 21."