Bui Thac Chuyen’s feature-length film ‘Glorious Ashes’ has beaten 27 other candidates to win the Busan Award at the 2017 Asian Project Market in Busan, South Korea on Tuesday.

Held since 1998, the Asian Project Market (APM) is part of a series of events leading up to the annual Busan Film Festival, and acts as a co-production platform offering filmmakers the opportunity to meet leading international film professionals.

At this year’s APM, running from October 15 to 17 in the South Korean city of Busan, approximately 645 meetings between film makers, financiers and distributors took place.

At the award ceremony on Tuesday night, Chuyen’s ‘Glorious Ashes’ (Tro Tan Ruc Ro), a drama he adapted himself from two short stories by Vietnamese author Nguyen Ngoc Tu, was pronounced the winner of the night’s highest honor, the Busan.

The film is set in Vietnam’s southernmost province of Ca Mau, and tells the stories of three women’s attempts to hold on to the men they love.

Director Bui Thac Chuyen (L) and producer Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc at the 2017 Asian Project Market in Busan, South Korea. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Other awards, including the Bright East Films Award, also worth $15,000, was won by Li Xiaofeng’s ‘Revenge’ from China. Indonesian Riri Riza’s ‘Humba Dreams’ won the CJ Entertainment Award of $10,000, and South Korean Seung-uk’s “Gasoline”, picked up both the Lotte award of $8,900 as well as the MONEFF award that includes $20,000 worth of post-production funding.

Hanoi-born Bui Thac Chuyen has a history of picking up international awards for his work. Famously he was the first Vietnamese director to win at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2000, when he picked up third prize at the Cinéfondation's Selection awards for his short ‘Night Run’.

His debut feature-length film, ‘Living in Fear’ (2005) also won him international recognition, as did his follow-up, ‘Adrift’ in 2009, which was an official selection at that year’s Venice International Film Festival, winning the FIPRESCI Award. It was also screened at Toronto, Vancouver, London, and Rotterdam.

‘Glorious Ashes’ is Chuyen’s return to filmmaking after a near decade-long hiatus.

“After Busan, we will continue to show ‘Glorious Ashes’ at other events in Europe, and to raise funds for distribution of the film,” said Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, the film’s producer.

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