Actor Kim Min-hee has won the Best Performance Award at this year's Locarno International Film Festival of Switzerland for her role in "By the Stream" by director Hong Sang-soo. (Festival's official Instagram account)

By Hong Angie
Video = Locarno International Film Festival's official YouTube channel

Actor Kim Min-hee has won the Best Performance Award at this year's Locarno International Film Festival of Switzerland for her role in "By the Stream" by director Hong Sang-soo.

Kim on Aug. 17 was announced as one of the two winners of the honor in the festival's International Competition section at the awards ceremony in Locarno, Switzerland.

As Hong's 32nd film, "By the Stream" is what happens to a lecturer at a women's university when she asks her maternal uncle to direct a skit.

The movie was also the director's fourth to receive an official invitation to the festival, following "Our Sunhi" (2013), "Right Now, Wrong Then" (2015) and "Hotel by the River" (2018).

The other Best Performance Award went to four actors in the Lithuanian-Latvian film "Drowning Dry."

"I sincerely thank Locarno and the jury. I wanted filming to last longer as five days was too short," Kim said in Korean while accepting her award. "That short period of time was so enjoyable and happy for me."

"I'm so grateful to audiences who said nice comments after watching the film," she added. "To director Hong Sang-soo, who made such a lovely film, I adore all of your films."

After its global premiere at the festival, "By the Stream" will be released in Korea later this year.

Launched in 1946, the festival is among the world's six best. Held every August in the Swiss city, it features artistic, experimental and auteuristic works.