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| The second Wildflower Awards Ceremony will take place at Literature House, central Seoul on April 9. / Courtesy of The Wildflower Film Awards Korea |
Now in its second year, the Wildflower Film Awards Korea recognizes the achievements in the local independent film industry. Headed by Director of the awards Darcy Paquet, a Korean film specialist, along with film critic Oh Dong-jin who serves as the Organizing Director, the nominations were announced at a press conference on March 26 at the Press center in Gwanghamun, Seoul.
In an interview with The Korea Times, Paquet talks about why he started orchestrating the awards. "In recent years, a new film industry has grown up parallel to the mainstream commercial film industry. There is so much talent and creativity in the independent film sector, that it seemed to me they deserved their own awards ceremony."
"We're much smaller and more informal than the other awards ceremonies in Korea, but we have a somewhat more idealistic approach" Paquet continued.
The name "Wildflower Film Awards" is meant to symbolize the creative fertility and diversity of the independent film sector, which grows and thrives despite difficulties in funding and distribution where the local industry is dominated by vertically-integrated studios.
"Interestingly, the general public is becoming a bit more aware of independent films, thanks to breakout hits like Han Gong-ju, The King of Jogku
and My Love, Don't Cross That River. A positive image of independent films is starting to take form in the minds of the general public."
There are ten awards in total: the Grand Prize, Best Director - Narrative Films, Best Director - Documentaries, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best New Director, Best New Actor, Best New Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.
The Grand Prize is chosen among the 14 nominees for Best Director - Narrative Films and Best Director - Documentaries. To be eligible, films must have a budget of under 1 billion won (approx. $900,000) and have been released between January 1 and December 31, 2014.
"There were more than 60 narrative features and close to 30 documentaries released in theaters last year. There were impressive films from both veteran directors like Hong Sang-soo and Zhang Lu, and very talented newcomers."
"At a time when many mainstream Korean films are becoming more formulaic, independent films showed tremendous creativity, energy and diversity" Paquet added.
This year's nominations reflect a strong twelve months for independent cinema in 2014. July Jung's layered social drama "A Girl at My Door" which was in invited to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival last year received the most nominations with seven: Best Director Narrative, two Best Actress nominations for Bae Doo-na and Kim Sae-ron, Best Actor for Song Sae-byuk, Best New Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.
"Han Gong-ju" directed by Lee Su-jin which went on to win numerous awards at festivals around the globe took five: Best Director Narrative, Best Actress for Chun Woo-hee, Best New Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.
Also popular with audiences, Woo Moon-gi's "The King of Jokgu" about the sport of Jokgu a hybrid of football/soccer and volleyball of sorts - received five nominations while the renowned auteur Hong Sangsoo's "Hill of Freedom", Lee Yong-seung's workplace drama "10 Minutes" and Zhang Lu's offbeat romantic comedy "Gyeongju" each bagged four nominations.
Noting the strength of the documentaries last year, "right now there is tremendous creative energy in Korean documentaries. Some films help us to understand political issues in more depth, like "Non-Fiction Diary" (directed by Jung Yoonsuk) and "The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol" (directed by Lee Sang-ho and Ahn Hae-ryong).
"Some films help us to understand life better, such as The Hospice (directed by Lee Chang-jae) which is about dying, or the documentaries My Place (directed by Park Moon-chil) and My Father's Emails (directed by Hong Jae-hui) which are about family" said Paquet.
The directors behind these films along with Kelvin Kyung Kun Park ("A Dream of Iron") and Park Chan-kyong ("Manshin") were all nominated for Best Director in the documentary section.
In terms of how the voting was conducted for the nominations and the actual awards Paquet explained, "we established a selection committee of about 25 people -- including both critics and devoted fans of independent cinema -- who watched independent films all year long and then selected the nominations through voting."
"For the final awards, we had another round of voting by the selection committee plus a number of invited critics and programmers."
For such awards to take place, it needs to have the support of the local industry. "I feel tremendously grateful for the support we've received from the local film industry. Many producers and directors in the mainstream film industry have made significant financial donations, and without their support these awards wouldn't have been possible" Paquet said.
"Luckily for us, many people believe strongly in the need for an awards ceremony of this type."
The awards will be announced at a special ceremony on April 9 at Literature House, Seoul. Nominees and leading figures in the Korean film community will be invited to attend.
Prizewinners will each receive a specially designed ceramic trophy from Konkuk University professor Harin Lee, a well-known figure in Korea's ceramic arts community.
A book, the first volume of a bilingual Wildflower Film Awards Annual has also been published with essays and interviews on eleven selected films, and contains specially commissioned illustrations by local artists.
Meanwhile, six of the nominated films will be screened from April 6 to 8 at Seoul Theater, and will feature Q&A sessions with nominated directors and actors.
More details will be made available on its website: www.wildflower-awards.com.
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