Korean documentary 'Old Partner' receives award overseas
A cow usually lives for about 15 years on average. Here’s a moving tale about a cow that lived for nearly 40 years.
The Korean feature-length documentary film “Old Partner” (2008) received a Cinematic Vision Award at the 2009 SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival held in Washington, DC from June 15 to 22. “Old Partner” illustrates the tail-end of a life-long friendship between the 79-year-old farmer Choi and his almost 40-year-old cow in a remote South Korean village.
SILVEROCS is one of the most renowned documentary festivals in the world, and is co-sponsored by AFI and the Discovery Channel. The Cinematic Vision Award goes to a feature-length documentary with the best visual presentation to the story.
Director Lee Chung-ryoul is to receive US$2,500 in cash and $4,000 of in-kind services from motion-picture laboratory Alpha Cine.
Earlier this year, the film also received an Emerging Arts Award at the 16th Hot Docs-Canadian International Documentary Festival (April 30 to May 10), the biggest of its kind in North America. The jury commented that, “This film has the charm of the classic fairy tale, conveying the universal rhythms of life, death and rebirth with simplicity and dignity. In the story of a farmer, his wife, and the ox they depend on, the filmmaker has found a universal tale told in the most intimate fashion.”
The film attracted nearly 3 million viewers at home last year, an unprecedented figure for a documentary and won the Best Documentary Award at the 13th Busan International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the 34th Seoul Independent Film Festival and was invited to overseas film festivals such as Sundance, Philadelphia and Sarasota.
For more on the film Old Partner visit the introduction at Silverdocs Website
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