Winners of Director's CUT Awards announced

The winners of the 12th Director's CUT Awards have been announced today in a press release by the Korean Film Directors Network (KFDN).

KFDN -- a group of some 238 Korean filmmakers -- selects winners in the Korean film industry every year in six categories: Director, Actor (Male/Female), New Director, New Actor (Male/Female), Producer and Independent Film of the Year.

This year, a total of 92 Korean films were up for nomination and winners were announced as follows:

Director of the Year - Park Chan-wook, "Thirst"
This is the fourth win for Park at Director's CUT Awards -- he previously won for "Joint Security Area JSA", "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and "Oldboy". His controversial film "Thirst" was the first Korean film ever to win the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Actor of the Year (Male/Female) - Song Kang-ho, "Thirst" / Kim Hye-ja, "Mother"
Song Kang-ho took his fifth Actor of the Year title this year for his role in "Thirst", where he plays a Catholic priest who accidentally turns into a vampire. Song currently holds the record for most wins in the actor's category. Veteran actress Kim Hye-ja won the competition among female actors, beating out newcomer Kim Ok-vin of "Thirst".

New Director of the Year - Ounie Lecomte, "A Brand New Life"
The Korean-born French filmmaker Lecomte scored her first win in her directorial debut "A Brand New Life", which was inspired by her own childhood. The film was invited to several international film festivals this year including Cannes, Tokyo International Film Festival and Cinekid Festival in Amsterdam.

New Actor of the Year (Male/Female) - Kim Dong-wook, "Take Off" / Park Bo-young "Speedy Scandal"
After appearing in many short films, actor Kim Dong-wook won praise for his mature acting chops and claimed the title for New Actor of the Year. Actress Park Bo-young, who swept the Best New Actress awards from various film awards this year, added another win from Director's CUT.

Producer of the Year - Yoon Je-gyun (JK Films), "Haeundae"
Filmmaker Yoon Je-gyun scored a big win as producer for making the year's top blockbuster film "Haeundae", which became the fourth most-watched film in Korean box office history.

Independent Film of the Year - Yang Ik-joon, "Breathless"
"Breathless", which won many awards at various international film festivals, was credited with singlehandedly reviving the Korean independent film industry. Director Yang won 1 million Korean won in prize money and received a considerable number of votes for Director of the Year as well.

The Director's CUT award ceremony will take place on December 21.

Reporter : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr