Entertainment

Busan names Das, Shan and Shim to New Currents jury

Jonah VillalbaPublished 24m ago2 min readBased on 6 sources
Busan names Das, Shan and Shim to New Currents jury
Photo by Quejaytee / CC BY 4.0

The 31st Busan International Film Festival has named Indian director Rima Das, Chinese producer Shan Zuolong and South Korean actor Shim Eun-kyung to decide its New Currents Award, Variety reported on Sept. 22.

The prize goes to emerging filmmakers. Debut features screening in the festival’s Competition or Vision sections are eligible, and the winners share KRW20 million ($14,400) in cash, according to Variety.

Das arrives with a long festival record. Her films have played at more than 150 festivals and won over 75 prizes internationally. Her credits include Village Rockstars (2017), Bulbul Can Sing (2018), Tora’s Husband (2022), Village Rockstars 2 (2024) and Not a Hero (2026).

Village Rockstars won best feature film at India’s National Film Awards and became India’s submission for the Academy Awards in 2018. Village Rockstars 2 was honoured with the Kim Jiseok Award at Busan in 2024, while Not a Hero received a Crystal Bear special mention in Berlin’s Generation KPlus section for youth cinema. Das is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Shan brings a producer’s view. He produced Kaili Blues (2015), which won the best emerging director prize at Locarno, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018), which played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. He joined the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2026.

Shim brings an actor’s view. She became the first Korean actor to win best actress at the Japan Academy Film Prize, for The Journalist (2019). Her recent film Two Seasons, Two Strangers (2025) won the Golden Leopard, the top prize, at Locarno.

What makes this line-up stand out is balance. A director, a producer and an actor will watch the same debuts and choose together.

The 31st festival will run Oct. 6-15 at the Busan Cinema Center and other venues in Busan. Its market, the 21st Asian Contents & Film Market, will take place Oct. 10-13 and has listed 64 industry programmes alongside the festival, AsianMoviePulse reported.

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