The 18th Busan International Film Festival concluded Saturday in South Korea's port city Busan with South Korean film "Pascha"and Mongolian- German co-production "Remote Control" shared the top prize of the festival.

The New Currents, the event's main competition section, offered two prizes of 30,000 U.S. dollars to directors of the two films, both of which made their world premiere at the festival. Twelve films from 11 countries were invited to the section this year, displaying a tendency of bold experimentation and an awareness of pressing social issues.

Mongolian director Byamba Sakhya's debut of feature film " Remote control" made the first appearance of Mongolian films in the festival's new currents section, telling a story about a young boy who hopes to control the TV of a woman living in the opposite building, her life, the plane in the sky and even the whole world. "Mongolia is just like the teenage boy of my film, he looks kind of a man eager for power, but still very young and naive," Sakhya told Xinhua in an exclusive interview, adding that he was aimed at reflecting people's struggle in looking for new value and identities during the social transition. "Pascha"is the second film directed by South Korean female director Ahn Seonkyoung, focusing on a 40-something woman's love and struggle with a 17 year old boy. The jury described it as an "intimate and highly original expression of an unusual love story. "

The closing film is"The dinner", directed by South Korean director Kim Dong-hyun with his astute observations of an afflicted family.

Unlike the three traditional international film festivals in Venice, Cannes and Berlin, the Busan film festival is focusing more on discovering new talent rather than the established filmmakers. It is also a discovery of the Asian cinema potential.

A total of 299 films from 70 countries have been played out in this festival since it kicked off on Oct. 3 with 94 world premieres and 40 international premieres, showing the growing Asia film industry in recent years.

Echoing the diverse film themes is a vibrant jury led by Iranian representative female director Rakhshan Banietemad and her counterparts from Japan, South Korea, the U.S. and France.

The festival welcomed 7,729 accredited professional guests and a total of 217,865 theater visits in its 10-day's run.

Besides, the festival's Asian Film Market has witnessed the attendance of 198 film companies from 32 countries. "We feel that we have finally reached our goal of being a festival where filmmakers and audiences can come together,"said the festival director Lee Yong-kwan. Endi

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