We present the winners of this year edition.

The 33rd Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF) took place from April 22th to 26th at the Busan Cinema Center in Busan (South Korea).

International Competition
Grand Prix for Best Picture

El Eden by Andrés Ramírez Pulido – Colombia | 2016 – Fiction | 19 min.

Two teenagers in Colombia wander in the jungles without much to do. They find an abandoned swimming pool and it becomes like their own private Garden of Eden. They are soon nonchalantly involved in violence and murder, as this place remains the Garden of Eden, but with mangoes instead of apples. (Jung Seongwook)

Excellence Award for Best Picture

Tenderness by Emilia Zielonka – Poland | 2015 – Fiction – 25 min.

A young couple in love is out in search of a lover’s nest. This night seems to be the night the young couple will be making love for the first time. Just when their lovemaking appears to begin inside the lone hotel room, the couple begins to act strangely. It seems that their reason for coming to this place is not for lovemaking after all. This is a story about a sad night when their ineptness and inexperience leaves a lasting scar in their souls. The film makes us compassionate, wanting to hug away their deep wounds in pity. (Lee Sanghoon)

Jury Prize

A Woman and Her Car by Loic Darses – Canada | 2015 – Documentary – 28 min.

Having suffered trauma for over 30 years after being sexually abused as a child, Lucie writes a letter to the man who had molested her. Then she begins a journey with her children to deliver the letter to the man. Will Lucie be able to safely make this journey in search of a new life? A Woman and Her Car is an autobiographical documentary format, but the true event that she wants to cut off from her life is quite dramatic. We come to meet the world’s most courageous woman at the end of the film. (Jung Seongwook)

Special Mention

Senior Teacher by Sha Mo – China | 2015 – Fiction – 23 min.

Hu has worked over 30 years at an elementary school. He has received many awards including the best teacher award, and has always worked hard to make his classes good for his students. One day, his story and worries throw on the audience a question about what is right and what is wrong. Just as a dialogue in a silent film, Hu’s soliloquy is made through the filled pages of his diary, and the transformation from black and white to color means another reconciliation and beginning. (Jinna Lee)

7 Sheep by Wiktoria Szymanska – Poland, UK, France, Mexico | 2015 – Fiction – 20 min.

A story about a young girl and an old man. The lonely girl discovers a new world of magic, nature and animals inside the deep forest and wanders about innocently. The girl’s growth is not expressed in a narrative explanation or a specific story, but poetically through imagery full of feelings. The film pulls us inside the girl’s surreal, dreamlike and lonely inner side by using the girl’s whispery voice and minimizing light and color. The film brings the girl’s and the old man’s emotions of loneliness, love, separation and yearning. (Lee Sanghoon)

Busan Cinephile Award

90 Degrees North by Detsky Graffam – Germany | 2015 – Fiction – 21 min.

A woman pleads for help and the man that goes to help is soon imprisoned in an isolated area of traffic lights. The man fights desperately to escape the cleaver and cruel trap of traffic lights. Will he be able to escape this nightmarish, isolated area of traffic lights? The unusual topic of carnivorous traffic lights and the small but original ideas present the audience with both horror and laughter. (Kim Choongkook)

Korean Competition
Grand Prix for Best Picture

Deer Flower by Kim Kangmin – South Korea, USA | 2015 – Animation – 8 min.

The boy and his family visit a deer farm in a country village. And there, the boy experiences something bizarre. An experimental animation creating new senses by employing a good mix of 3D Painting, stop motion and 2D methods. (Hong Yungjoo)

Excellence Award for Best Picture

From Now On by Lee Kyeongwon – South Korea | 2016 – Fiction – 17 min.

A man walks into a foreign neighborhood to look for a house. Then, the drastic summarization of the story and time will confuse the audience at first, but it brings suspense and a deeply lingering impression to the story. There is more that is unseen than visible. This intentional void prompts various emotional interpretations. During that time, what sort of moments and stories did the man and the house share? Since the guessing is left to the audience, we are left to remember, not the man’s, but our own personal memories. Hanyang villa or whatever else, that’s what houses do – they are where our memories dwell. (Kim Sejin)

Jury Prize

Bargain by Lee Chunghyun – South Korea | 2015 – Fiction – 15 min.

The film is terribly shameless and nonchalant. In all aspects, including in acting, directing, content, and method, even in its method of handling the theme. The short 14 minutes dealing with the business of underage prostitution is filled with a cunning change in character relationship, a tumultuous wave of emotions, and even an unexpected twist. And all this was surprisingly taken in just one shot. The film is full of bewitching magical moments in one long take. (Kim Choongkook)

Best Acting Award

Park Sejae for the film New Rapids by Choi Jungmoon – South Korea | 2015 – Fiction – 20 min.

On her way to a social participation performance in Seoul, Hana runs into old friend Cheolha and feels herself wavering. She follows him, but when she finally does catch up to him, she can’t tell him how she feels and turns back. Especially notable in this piece is the detailed, unexaggerated portrayal of inner turmoil. (Hur Jeongsic)

Special Mention

Half-Day by Choi Jinyoung – South Korea | 2016 – Fiction – 18 min.

Half-Day is a film about the last, short half day spent by a couple who has made their life’s most important decision as a married couple. It is relatively a simple and short story, but the well thought out storyline and natural acting of the actors makes the film fluid. The last two sequences seem somewhat typical, but still the film succeeds in taking on a heavy theme to create a light and cheerful story, while simultaneously bringing about a reflection on love, marriage and life. (Jo Jihoon)

The Plants: Jakarta Monorail 103 by Park Yongseok – South Korea | 2015 – Experimental – 5 min.

Jakarta, Indonesia, boasts a tremendous amount of traffic. In response, the government has tried to build a monorail, but 10 years since the beginning of construction, only the steel frame remains standing. The director takes the 103 monorail columns in black and white and negative images, and fit them together to a rhythmic music, creating a type of an ancient tribe like dynamic. The picture of columns as though they are growing in the middle of the city like plants is a protest and an outcry against the irresponsible administration. (Jinna Lee)

Busan Cinephile Award

Bargain by Lee Chunghyun – South Korea | 2015 – Fiction – 15 min.

NETPAC Award

Seol-hee by Bae Yeonhee – South Korea | 2016 – Fiction – 20 min

While working in a convenience store to makes ends meet, Yeonhee meets her high school classmate Seolhee. She is mentally handicapped. Everyday thereafter, Seolhee comes to visit Yeonhee at the convenience store. Yeonhee shows disapproval of the persistent visit, but is also strangely curious. (Hong Yungjoo)

Operation Kino
Grand Prix for Best Picture

SeongOk by Kim Noheul – South Korea | 2016

A small shoe repair shop in Nampo-dong, Busan. And the story of Chu Yeonsun, an old woman who is not able to leave

Excellence Award for Best Picture

Underpass Market by Choi Hyeonji – South Korea | 2016

A old man who has protected the underpass and corner store in a small town downtown, and his 30 years