Dir. Park Chan-ok named top female film figure of year

Korean filmmaker Park Chan-ok was named Female of the Year by Women in Film Korea, an organization of female professionals working in the Korean movie industry.

Park, who directed the film "Paju", won the top honor at the "2009 Women in Film Festival", held at Seoul's Cine Cube Multiplex on December 15.

"When I heard the news, I was so surprised that I couldn't really believe it," the director said in her acceptance speech. "Honestly, I thought, 'Do I deserve this award? I just made one movie,'" She went on to thank "the very dedicated and creative staff and actors, the audience and the producers who decided to make this movie."

"Paju", which stars Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun and actress Seo Woo, is about a forbidden love between a woman and her late sister's husband.

The movie received rave reviews from film critics all over the world, winning the NETPAC Award at the Pusan Film Festival in October and being selected as the opening film for the 39th Rotterdam International Film Festival next month.

Other winners at the event included veteran actress Kim Hye-ja ("Mother"), writer and director Bu Ji-young ("Sisters On The Road") and producer Lee Mi-yeong ("Running Turtle").

Reporter : Ko Kyoung-seok kave@asiae.co.kr
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr