Grand prize goes unawarded for another year, requiring unanimous jury vote
Five films took top honors at the 22nd Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, with "Aunt Sunhee" emerging as the night's biggest winner.
The festival held its closing ceremony Tuesday at CGV Yongsan iPark Mall in Seoul, announcing winners across seven categories.
"Aunt Sunhee," directed by Wi Eun-gyeong and Son Gwang-min, claimed the best picture award in the drama competition section. The film swept three prizes in all, also taking the acting award for Jeong Ho-jeong and the audience award.
In the romance and melodrama section, Kang Seong-jun's "Ojojun" won best picture and also earned the acting award for Geum Bin-do.
Kim Geun-ho's "Wolnam Bosal" took best picture in the comedy section.
Choi Ji-hye's "Noise Canceling" won best picture in the horror and fantasy section, while Park Jeong-su's "Seoreul Damgo" claimed the top prize in the action and thriller section. "Seoreul Damgo" also earned cinematographer Lee Yeong-hun the cinematography award.
The jury's special award went to Tae Ji-won's "Touch Tuk" and Yun Ji-hye's "Report,".
The Best Moving Self-Portrait award — given for a short video in which directors introduce themselves freely — went to Mok Gyu-ri and Hong Seok-u, directors of "Sonjaguk."
No grand prize was awarded among this year's best picture winners. The festival's grand prize requires a unanimous vote of all jury members from among the best picture recipients. The award has been given only four times in the festival's history; the last recipient was Kim Hyeon-jeong's "A House Without Me" at the 16th edition in 2017.
The Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival is the country's only genre-focused short film festival and is regarded as a launching pad for emerging directors. Alumni include some of South Korea's most prominent filmmakers, among them Na Hong-jin, Jang Jae-hyeon, Yeon Sang-ho and Yun Jong-bin.
This year's festival drew 1,667 submissions, of which 44 advanced to the main competition. The six-day event ran from June 18 and drew an audience of about 8,400, with a seat occupancy rate of 97 percent.
All screened films will be available on Netflix for two weeks starting Wednesday. Award-winning works will be accessible through Naver's Chzzk streaming platform for two weeks beginning July 8.
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