The First Annual Asian Film Awards

The prizes were handed out this week for the first annual Asian Film Awards, held in conjunction with the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival. It is not surprising that Bong Joon-ho's The Host was a big winner (Best Film, Actor, Cinematographer, and Visual Effects) enjoying financial and critical success all over the world, including the US. Jia Zhangke won best director, in a catagory where I feel all the nominees deserved the award: Hong Sang-soo for Woman on the Beach, Johnnie To for Exiled, Jafar Panahi for Offside, Tsai Ming-liang for I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul for Syndromes and a Century. Wow.

As outlined on the AFA website, "The initiative is to acknowledge the finest of Asian Cinema, and bestow honour in various categories to film artists from across Asia, in the company of distinguished celebrities from around the world as guests and presenters." It is long overdue and it will be interesting to follow over the coming years. Also included in the program was special awards to Josephine Siao for outstanding contibution (being awesome), David Bordwell for excellence in scholarship (taking HK films beyond chopy-socky) and Andy Lau for box office star (making $).

Full list of nominees and winners:

Best Film
Curse of the Golden Flower, Hong Kong / Chinese mainland
Exiled, Hong Kong
The Host, South Korea
Love and Honor, Japan
Opera Jawa, Indonesia / Austria
Still Life, Chinese mainland

Best Director
HONG Sang-soo, Woman on the Beach, South Korea
JIA Zhangke, Still Life, Chinese mainland
Jafar PANAHI, Offside, Iran
Johnnie TO, Exiled, Hong Kong
TSAI Ming-liang, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, Taiwan / France / Austria
Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, Syndromes and a Century, Thailand / Austria / France

Best Actor
CHANG Chen, The Go Master, Chinese mainland
RAIN (JUNG Ji-hoon), I'm A Cybord, But That's OK, South Korea
Shahrukh KHAN, DON, India
Andy LAU, A Battle of Wits, Japan / Hong Kong / Chinese mainland / South Korea
SONG Kang-ho, The Host, South Korea
Ken WATANABE, Memories of Tomorrow, Japan

Best Actress
GONG Li, Curse of the Golden Flower, Hong Kong / Chinese mainland
KIM Hye-soo, Tazza: The High Rollers, South Korea
LIM Soo-jung, I'm A Cybord, But That's OK, South Korea
Rie MIYAZAWA, Hana, Japan
Miki NAKATANI, Memories of Matsuko, Japan
Ziyi ZHANG, The Banquet, Hong Kong / Chinese mainland

Best Screenwriter
Mani HAGHIGHI, Men at Work, Iran
HONG Sang-soo, Woman on the Beach, South Korea
Tetsuya OISHI, Shusuke KANEKO, Death Note: The Last Name, Japan
SOHN Jae-gon, My Scary Girl, South Korea
Prabda YOON, Invisible Waves, Thailand / The Netherlands / South Korea / Hong Kong
ZHANG Cheng, YUE Xiaojun, NING Hao, Crazy Stone, Hong Kong / Chinese mainland

Best Cinematographer
KIM Hyung-goo, The Host, South Korea
Andrew LAU, LAI Yiu-fai, Confession of Pain, Hong Kong
LIAO Pen-jung, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, Taiwan / France / Austria
Sayombhu MUKDEEPROM, Syndromes and a Century, Thailand / Austria / France
WANG Yu, The Go Master, Chinese mainland

Best Editor
Lee CHATAMETIKOOL, Syndromes and a Century, Thailand
KIM Sun-min, The Host, South Korea
Angie LAM, Dog Bite Dog, Japan / Hong Kong
PARK Gok-ji, JEONG Jin-hee, A Dirty Carnival, South Korea
Patrick TAM, After This Our Exile, Hong Kong

Best Composer
JEONG Yong-jin, Woman on the Beach, South Korea
Peter KAM, Isabella, Hong Kong
LIM Giong, Still Life, Chinese mainland
Rahayu SUPANGGAH, Opera Jawa, Indonesia / Austria
Tamiya TERASHIMA, Tales from Earthsea, Japan

Best Production Designer
CHO Keun-hyun, Forbidden Quest, South Korea
Towako KUWAJIMA, Memories of Matsuko, Japan
Patrick TAM, Cyurs HO, After This Our Exile, Hong Kong
WADA Emi, The Go Master, Chinese mainland
Tim YIP, The Banquet, Hong Kong / Chinese mainland

Best Visual Effects
Angela BARSON, CHUNG Chi-hang, Curse of the Golden Flower, Hong Kong / Chinese mainland
DTI (Digital Tetra Inc.) ETRI, The Restless, South Korea
Tetsuo OHYA, Makoto KAMIYA, Katsuro ONOUE, The Sinking of Japan, Japan
The Orphanage, The Host, South Korea
YANAGAWASE Masahide, Memories of Matsuko, Japan

Honary Award for outstanding contribution to Asian cinema: Actress Josephine Siao Fong-fong (Hong Kong)

Honary Award for excellence in scholarship in Asian cinema: Film academic David Bordwell (United States)

Nielsen Box Office Star of Asia Award: Actor Andy Lau