Majid Majidi at the Midday Meal press conference during the Busan International Film Festival on 9 October 2026. Photo: Arielaortizb / CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized/display crop; original image license applies.
Majid Majidi’s Midday Meal has won the Busan Award for Best Film at the 31st Busan International Film Festival. The prize was presented at the closing ceremony on October 15, with the festival posting its winners announcement on October 16.
The official BIFF awards release confirms the Iranian filmmaker’s win. The festival ran from October 6 to 15 at the Busan Cinema Center, bringing its ten-day programme to a close with the Competition and New Currents results.
A teacher’s struggle takes the top prize
According to Yonhap’s closing-night report, the jury chose Midday Meal unanimously. The film follows a village teacher whose hopes for a secure job and a home with his mother are threatened when a school meal programme faces closure.
Yonhap reports that a seven-member jury led by Zhang Yimou selected the Competition winners from 13 Asian films. The festival also drew more than 200,000 admissions, crossing that threshold for the first time since 2015. Those are festival admissions rather than a count of unique viewers.
Other winners in Busan
The festival’s official winners list also records:
- Special Jury Prize: IBUKU, directed by Eddie Cahyono.
- Best Director: Lee Yun Chan for To Be Ordinary.
- Best Actor: Zhou Xun for The First Taste of Loneliness and Himeno Kashun for Satoko Always.
- Artistic Contribution: sound director Li Danfeng for The First Taste of Loneliness.
There is an Indian title to note too: Shashank Walia’s Birds in the Dark won the New Currents Award. Lim Hayeon’s Beach Fictions received a special mention in that category.
Films to keep on the watchlist
For readers following cinema beyond the biggest theatrical releases, this is a useful set of titles to investigate. The awards point towards the films the Busan juries singled out; they do not establish when those films will reach a local cinema or streaming service.
This report covers the festival results, rather than a review of Midday Meal. We have not assigned the film an SFAM rating. While waiting for further release announcements, explore our movie reviews by country for more world-cinema discoveries.
