Apprentice director Boo Junfeng receives Rising Director award in Busan

Homegrown film-maker Boo Junfeng received the Rising Director Award at Busan International Film Festival's Asia Star Awards on Friday evening (Oct 7). ST PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOO JUNFENG

Home-grown film-maker Boo Junfeng has been awarded the Rising Director Award at Busan International Film Festival's Asia Star Awards on Friday evening (Oct 7).

He is there to receive the award and attend the screenings of Apprentice.

Boo, 32, tells The Straits Times: "It's an honour to be awarded in Busan. This is the first festival I had ever attended - back in 2005 when I went to the Asian Film Academy. It was a very inspiring experience. So it means very much to be honoured here."

Other than Busan, Apprentice is also showing at film festivals in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Chicago, Philadelphia, Manila and Mumbai this month.

The reason he enjoys going to festivals with a film is because he gets "to interact with audiences from different cultures and see how they respond to the film". He is looking forward to the screening of the film in Busan on Saturday.

The film will be released in Hong Kong on Oct 27.

Apprentice, a psychological death penalty drama, made its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in May in the Un Certain Regard section, and it is Singapore's entry for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

In Singapore, there are plans for a second run of Apprentice at The Projector starting Nov 18.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.