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The Journals of Musan has gone from success to success since its premiere at Pusan last year. The film that deals with the thorny issue of North Korean refugees has just picked up another international film festival award, this time at Tribeca in New York. Named winner of the Best New Narrative competition, the director will receive a cash award of $25,000 plus $50,000 in post-production services.

 

Musan seems to be following in the footsteps of 2008 indy Breathless starring and directed by YANG Ik-june which played in over 30 festivals including Rotterdam, Tokyo, Vancouver, Fantasia, Deauville and Melbourne just to name a few. Musan itself has played at the Deauville Asian Film Festival where it picked up the Prix du Jury ex-aequo, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2011) where it received two awards the VPRO Tiger Award and the FIPRESCI; it has also played at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Copenhagen, Tribeca and the Festival International du Film de Marrakech.

 

Like Breathless, Musan stars its director PARK Jung-bum as Seung-chul, a North Korean refugee trying to survive in a shanty town like part of Seoul. His only means of income is to put up posters of sex shops under the direction of a dodgy boss who short changes his pay. He becomes attracted to a woman who goes to his church but is unable to muster up the sophistication needed to approach her. When she does finally notice, she does not feel the same way. Meanwhile, rival poster layers harass Seung-chul, and other problems waylay him in his new, complex and stratifying new world. When his only friend, a stray puppy goes missing, it is the last straw for Seung-chul.

 

The Tribeca Film Festival was founded by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in 2002 to bring new life to Lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks. The festival has grown significantly during its 10 year existence and this year it screened 93 feature films and 60 short films from 40 countries.