Mike Figgis to Head Jury at Busan Film Festival

The Oscar-nominated British director will be joined on the jury by Karlovy Vary festival's artistic director Karel Och, actresses Samal Yeslyamova and Lee Sinje and producer Suh Youngjoo.

Mike Figgis, the Oscar-nominated British director of Leaving Las Vegas, will head the jury of the New Currents Competition section at the Busan International Film Festival.

The Oscar-nominated British director will be joined on the jury by Karel Och, artistic director of the Karlovy Vary IFF; Samal Yeslyamova, the winner of the best actress award at Cannes last year for Ayka; Lee Sinje, the first Malaysian awardee of the best actress award at the Golden Horse Awards in 2002 for The Eye; and Korean sales agent and producer Suh Youngjoo, CEO of Finecut.

The New Currents jury will select two winning films at the closing ceremony with each winner receiving a $30,000 cash prize.

Figgis first attended the 2nd Busan festival in 1997 where his film One Night Stand was screened.

Busan festival organizers also revealed the makeup of its jury for Kim Ji-Seok award. The prize was established in 2017 to encourage and discover the growth and new talents of Asian Cinema and in honor of the late Kim Ji-Seok, the Busan executive programmer who died of a heart attack at Cannes in 2017.

The jury will comprise of Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh, Kandahar), Busan programmer Huh Moonyung and Tan Chui Mui, the winner of the New Currents award for Love Conquers All at the 11th Busan festival in 2006. The jurors will select two films, which will receive $10,000 each.

The 24th Busan festival runs from Oct. 3-12.