Actor-turned-director Yoo Ji-tae’s first feature film has won the Jury Prize at this year’s Deauville Asian Film Festival, the film’s local promoters said Sunday.

Titled “Mai Ratima,” the film features a love affair between a destitute Korean man (played by Bae Soo-bin) and a young Thai woman who moved to Korea as a mail-order bride (played by Park Ji-soo). Both of the characters face discrimination against their social status and ethnicity. 

The movie was premiered at last year’s Busan International Film Festival and received generally positive reviews from the critics here.

“We were very surprised that this is Yoo’s first feature film as a director,” said Jerome Clement, jury president of the festival as quoted by the film’s promoters. “Yoo presents a lot of insights in this film, which deals with a rather sensitive issue.”

Yoo, whose best known works as an actor include Park Chan-wook’s 2003 thriller “Oldboy” and “Hwang Jin Yi,” Chang Yoon-hyun’s 2007 biopic of the famous Joseon courtesan, made his directing debut with his short “The Bike Boy” in 2003. His third short “Out of My Intention” (2008) was featured at a number of local and international film festivals, including Vancouver International Film Festival and Asiana International Short Film Festival.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)