Majid Majidi's Midday Meal won the Best Film Award at the Busan International Film Festival's closing ceremony, and with it automatic qualification for submission to the Oscars' Best International Feature category. One trophy, two consequences. That is how the mechanics work here: Busan's top prize carries Academy eligibility without a separate theatrical run.

The film, set in a parched rural village, follows a school teacher — played by Mohammad Rahimi — fighting the closure of his school after the death of a benefactor. Majidi, the director of Children Of Heaven, made his first trip to Busan this year to present it. First visit, first win. Efficient.

Who else won at Busan?

The festival spread its hardware across Asia:

• Busan Award Special Jury Prize: Ibuku, Eddie Cahyono, Indonesia
• Best Director: Lee Yun Chan, Taiwan, for To Be Ordinary
• Best Actor: China's Zhou Xun for The First Taste of Loneliness (dir. Gu You) and Japan's Kashun Himeno for Satoko Always (dir. Shuichi Okita)
• Artistic Contribution: Li Danfeng, for sound on The First Taste of Loneliness
• New Currents Award: Birds In The Dark, Shashank Walia — a Punjabi-language film from the Vision – Asia section that also took the Songwon Vision Audience Award
• New Currents Special Mention: Beach Fictions, Lim Hayeon, Korea

Notably, the two New Currents results reward a film that premiered outside the competition's usual pipeline, since Birds In The Dark played in the Vision – Asia section. Section boundaries, it seems, remain suggestions.

How big was the festival?

BIFF reported an audience of more than 200,000 across the main festival, Community BIFF and BIFF Everywhere programs — its highest film audience since 2015. Another 77,000 attended programs and special events. The festival attributed the growth to key changes, including a new opening date and an expanded screening program. Roughly one in three attendees, in other words, came for something other than a screening.

Guests included Alfonso Cuarón on his first official visit to Korea, plus Charlotte Gainsbourg, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Fan Bingbing, Majidi, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Lee Chang-dong, Na Hong-jin, Lav Diaz and Rintaro, who worked the Master Classes, Cine Classes and Special Talks. Michelle Yeoh received the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award at the opening ceremony; Ann Hui took the Camellia Award.

What happened at the market?

The Asian Contents & Film Market (October 10-13) drew 30,484 participants and 339 companies from 32 countries. That averages out at roughly 90 participants per company, in case anyone was counting.

The market also produced a deal: Korean content investment firm Solaire Partners and Japanese entertainment finance company Questry Co signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint Korea-Japan content fund worth $75m (KRW100bn). Cross-border money, on paper at least.

Winners at the Asian Project Market — A Chronicle Of Minor Things, Goldfish and Casparina — were announced on the market's final day.

Any late surges in the Vision section?

Mongolia's Zogsool, directed by Sakhya Byamba, won four awards in the Vision section, including the Vision of Jiseuk Award. Korea's Full Moon, from Jeong Jihye, took three. Between them, two films hoarded seven trophies.

The verdict for the Oscar race: Majidi now holds a qualifying title, which puts Iran's selection committee — or whichever country submits it — on notice. Midday Meal enters the Best International Feature conversation on merit of a jury verdict in Busan. Whether it survives the shortlist is next winter's problem.