(Finecut)

Korean filmmaker Park Hoon-jung has picked up a directorial prize at Fantastic Fest 2017 for his latest crime noir "V.I.P.," the film's distributor said Friday.

Park won best director in the "Thriller Features" category at this year's Fantastic Fest, an Austin, Texas-based genre film festival, held from Sept. 21-28, according to Finecut.

Starring Jang Dong-gun and Lee Jong-suk, "V.I.P." revolves around a police detective who tracks down a high-profile North Korea defector as the prime suspect in a serial murder case, as South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials try to hinder the investigation for their own agendas.

Park wrote the screenplays for "The Unjust" and "I Saw the Devil," both 2010 films by directors Ryoo Seung-wan and Kim Jee-woon, respectively, and helmed "New World," a 2012 crime thriller that swept many awards at home and abroad. (Yonhap)