Lee Chang-dong's 'Burning' Receives Critics' Prize at Cannes

Director Lee Chang-dong poses during the photocall for "Burning" at the annual Cannes Film Festival in France last Thursday. /EPA-Yonhap

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Lee Chang-dong's latest film "Burning" received the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize for best film in the competition section at this year's Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.

""Burning" is a mystery exploring the border between reality and unreality, what is present and what is not and what is visible and what is not", Lee said in his acceptance speech. "I'm thankful for your warm reception of the film".

FIPRESCI, or the International Federation of Film Critics, gives out awards at film festivals around the world to reward enterprising filmmaking.

Ryoo Seung-wan's "Crying Fist" won the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes in 2005.  

When he met Korean reporters later, Lee said he felt relieved, as the film had received rave reviews from local media and emerged as a favorite to win the Palme d'Or after its premiere last Wednesday, which he failed to take home.

The art director of "Burning", Shin Jeom-hee, won the Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist, an independent prize given to the best technical artist in filming, editing, art and sound.

The Palme d'Or went to Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda's "Shoplifters". In 2013, he won the jury prize for his film "Like Father, Like Son".

"Shoplifters" is about a poor family who rely on shoplifting while living on their grandmother's pension. The film deals with issues of poverty, petty crime and class differences.