hankyoreh

The 12th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), which drew record audiences, closed Friday after featuring its biggest line-up of films, including its largest-ever number of world premiers.

Asia's largest annual film festival in the southeastern port city of Busan opened October 4 and featured 275 films from 64 countries, including 66 world premiers, and attracted over 198,000 moviegoers.

Over 5,000 movie buffs gathered to watch the closing film, "Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone," a Japanese animated film by Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki and Masayuki. It is a theater adaptation of the 1995 TV animation series "Neon Genesis Evangelion," which created die-hard fans and enjoys popularity even today, according to the organizing committee.

"Rather than finding comfort in where it stands now, PIFF will strive to move on and emerge as one of the world's most prestigious film festivals," said Hur Nam-sik, the festival chairman and Busan mayor, at the closing ceremony at the outdoor screening theater of the Busan Suyeongman Yacht Stadium.

PIFF became the second film festival after the Cannes International Film Festival to receive the Federico Fellini Medal, a prize awarded annually by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to those in the film industry for exceptional contributions to cinematography.

The awards of PIFF's sole competitive section, New Currents, which come with US$30,000 for each winner, were shared by Seng Tat Liew of "Flower in the Pocket," Guang Hao Jin of "Life Track" and Aditya Assarat of "Wonderful Life."

BUSAN, Oct. 12 (Yonhap)