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Majid Majidi’s Midday Meal Wins Best Film at Busan International Film Festival
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Best Film prize at the 31st Busan International Film Festival awarded to Majidi's film. Automatic eligibility for the Oscars' Best International Feature submission.
Busan Top Prize
Majid Majidi’s “Midday Meal” won the Best Film Award at the close of the Busan International Film Festival, and the win automatically qualified the film for submission to the Best International Feature category of the Oscars. The Film Verdict listed “Midday Meal (Ghazaye nimroz) from Iran” as the Busan Award for Best Film, and it also named Majid Majidi as the director of the top prize winner. The Best Film Award at the 31st Busan International Film Festival secured a direct entry for consideration at the upcoming Academy Awards, and it carried a cash prize of 50 million won ($37,180).
“The Best Film Award also comes with a cash prize of 50 million won ($37,180).”
“Midday Meal” beat out 12 other Asian titles in competition, and a seven-member jury led by Zhang Yimou picked the winners from 13 competition films. Majid Majidi made his first trip to the Busan film festival this year to present the film, and the story revolved around a school teacher, played by Mohammad Rahimi, struggling to keep the school open following the death of a benefactor.
Majidi’s Speech
Majid Majidi dedicated his Busan victory to his mother, who died several months before filming began, and he told the audience that “I always say that the main characters of our films are the audience.” Majid Majidi dedicated the prize to “the brave heroes of Iran — the people of Iran, who have stood firm through all these years and are still resisting oppression,” and he used portions of his speech to condemn the civilian toll of the U.S.-led war on his country. Majid Majidi said, “On the very first day of this war in Iran, a school in Minab was hit, and 120 innocent students were killed,” and he added, “Even now, some of the bodies have not been found.”
Majid Majidi paid tribute on stage to his late mother and also dedicated the honor to the people of Iran, while he voiced hope for a world without war. Variety described Majidi’s protest as decrying the Minab school attack in February this year, and it said the attack saw 156 civilians, including 120 schoolchildren, killed by a U.S. military strike.
Oscars Eligibility and Festival
The Busan win placed “Midday Meal” on a direct route into the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category under new Academy rules, and Deadline said the film automatically qualifies for submission to that category.
“ACFM (October 10-13) drew 30,484 participants and 339 companies from 32 countries.”
Starting this year, the grand prize winner under the Busan Award competition section automatically gains qualification to submit for the Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards.
The Korea Times also said the festival recorded a total attendance of 200,043, marking the first time since 2015 that BIFF surpassed the 200,000 milestone, and it attributed the increase to moving the opening day from Oct. 6’s Wednesday to Tuesday and increasing daily screenings from four to five.
The ceremony was hosted by actor Im Si-wan and it was set to wrap up the 10-day event with a screening of “Midday Meal” as the festival’s closing film.
ACFM, held October 10-13, drew 30,484 participants and 339 companies from 32 countries, and Solaire Partners and Questry Co signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint Korea-Japan content fund worth $75m (KRW100BN).