MANILA Philippines?Davao-based independent filmmaker Sherad Anthony Sanchez?s ?Imburnal? won two top prizes on Friday at the 10th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) held in South Korea.

The digital movie brought home Best Film honors or the Woosuk Award, which comes with a cash prize of $10,000.

According to the festival web site, the cash award was given by Woosuk University to a ?film that contributes to widen the scope and depth of contemporary cinema.?

?Imburnal? also won the NETPAC prize, awarded by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema. (Among the NETPAC jurors are Hong Kong?s Lorna Tee, Lebanon?s Jocelyn Saab and Korea?s Dong Jin Seo.)

The Filipino film, which chronicles the struggles of slum kids in Davao, bested 12 entries from other countries in the festival that is considered ?Korea?s second biggest, next to Pusan.?

Variety reported that the JIFF screened 200 films from 42 countries in nine days. The Special Jury prize was won by Tariq Teguia?s ?Inland? from Algeria.

Cinema One winner

Last year, ?Imburnal? topped the Cinema One Originals competition and was rated ?X? by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

Ronald Arguelles, project head of Cinema One Originals, told Inquirer Entertainment that the jury ? composed of critics and filmmakers from Australia (Adrian Martin), Chad (Mahamat-Saleh Harouin), United States (Richard Porton), Japan (Yanagimach Mitsuo) and Korea (Kim Dong Won) ? cited ?Imburnal? for being ?innovative and experimental,? hailing it as ?a miraculous work.?

Arguelles said Sanchez, while in Jeonju, was also awarded the Hubert Bals grant for his next movie ?Kaluha.? Bayani San Diego Jr.