JUNG Yeon-kyung’s debut short film
<Mom Came Over the Sea> took home two awards at Japan’s Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, which ended on June 30th. Within the Asia International Competition the film received both the Audience Award and the Best Actor Award for child actor HAM Won-jin. Hallyu star JANG Keun-suk, who enjoys immense popularity in Japan, was also given a Special Mention Award for his short film <Is This Sort of Life Any Good?>, which as invited to the festival.
JUNG Yeon-kyung has previously worked on the set of feature films such as the Korea-Japan co-production <Rikidozan: A Hero Extraordinary> (2004), <200 Pounds Beauty> (2007) and <My New Partner> (2008). <Mom Came Over the Sea> is her directorial debut. The film follows a young boy (HAM Won-jin) whose mother has moved to Japan for a job opportunity and his encounter with a Korean-Chinese woman who has left her own child in China for the same reason.
Five other Korean films screened alongside <Mom Came Over the Sea> in the fest’s Asia International Competition, including one Korea-Hong Kong co-production. These were HA Jung-su’s <No Land for the People>, LEE Jin-ho’s <Go Underground>, KIM Seok-young’s <Anesthesia>, LEE Jung-woo’s <The Camera> and Jude JUNG’s Korea-Hong co-production <Today’s Headline>. HA’s <No Land for the People> and KIM’s <Anesthesia> had previously screened at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival. <Anesthesia> screened at the 2012 Berlinale as well.
Within each of the festival’s three competitive sections -- International Competition, Asia International Competition and Japan Competition -- an Audience Award, Best Actor Award and Best Actress Award were presented in addition to the jury’s selection for Best Short. Best Short in the Asia International Competition was awarded to Jay CHERN’s <Thief> (Taiwan). The festival’s Grand Prix was awarded to the Best Short from the Japan Competition, Atsuko HIRAYANAGI’s Japan-Singapore co-production <Mō ikkai>.
Short Shorts also hosted a special non-competitive section called Traveling Shorts in Korea. This section includes five Korean short films curated by the 2011 Asiana International Short Film Festival, which were then featured in a variety of festivals in Asia and beyond. This year’s selections included KIM Young-geun and KIM Ye-young’s <City>, CHUN Kee-hak’s <Changgyeong Park>, JUNG Jee-Hyung’s <Funny Games>, LEE Jae-hee’s <A Scene at the Sea> and YOO Dae-eol’s <Etude, Solo>. These screenings were offered to the public free of charge.
Japan’s Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2012, which ran from June 15-30, operated venues in Harajuku, Omotesando and Yokohama. It was started in 1999 by the Japanese actor Tetsuya BESSHO, and this year’s fest selected roughly 100 films from over 4400 submissions. Full award details can be found here: