Director Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi thriller “Snowpiercer” on Wednesday claimed the best film and the best director awards given by local movie reporters for 2013.

The English-language debut by Bong was the top winner at the fifth “Film of the Year Awards” ceremony held at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, beating out the latest box-office sensation, “The Attorney,” and director Lee Jun-ik’s drama “Hope.”

Bong also received the best director award for “Snowpiercer.”

The Korea Film Reporters Association, with 83 members in 51 media companies, chooses winners of the awards every January from all homegrown films that opened the previous year. Winners are chosen through member voting.

Starring top Korean actor Song Kang-ho alongside Hollywood thespians Chris Evans, Ed Harris and Tilda Swinton, “Snowpiercer” had attracted 9.34 million viewers in local theaters since it opened in August, according to an official box-office tally by the Korean Film Council.

Based on the French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige,” the movie depicts inter-class struggles among the world’s last-remaining inhabitants aboard a perpetually moving train.

Song received the best actor award for “The Attorney,” a drama inspired by the early years of late former President Roh Moo-hyun while the best actress went to Jeon Do-yeon for her lead role in “Way Back Home.” (Yonhap News)