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Roaring Currents, the most successful Korean film of all time, continued its victory parade by claiming no less than four awards at the 51st Daejong (Grand Bell) Film Awards, which took place in Seoul on Friday, November 21st. Other big winners of the night included the political drama The Attorney from last year and the thriller A Hard Day, both of which netted three awards.

 

The naval period blockbuster, which was seen by 17.6 million spectators domestically (which represents one in three Korean citizens) swept up the Best Film prize, as well as best actor for CHOI Min-sik, who portrayed the legendary Admiral YI Sun-shin, and the Best Technical and Planning Awards.

 

Taking the Best Actress prize was SON Ye-jin for her turn in the swashbuckling hit The Pirates, in which she was cast against type as a battle-hardened pirate. The supporting category prizes were taken by KIM Young-ae of The Attorney and SON’s The Pirates co-star YU Hae-jin. Meanwhile, JYJ member PARK Yoo-chun and LIM Ji-yeon were named Best New Actor and Actress for their parts in Haemoo and Obsessed.

 

KIM Seong-hun took home Best Director for A Hard Day, while YANG Woo-suk and YOON Hyun-ho picked up the Best Screenplay prize for The Attorney. YANG also earned the Best New Director award. Among the night’s technical awards, A Hard Day earned accolades for Best Cinematography (KIM Tae-sung) and Best Lighting (KIM Kyung-suk), SHIN Min-kung won Best Editing for The Divine Move, CHO Hwa-sung triumphed in Best Art Direction for The Fatal Encounter and CHO Sang-kyung was recognised in the Costume Design category for Kundo: Age of the Rampant. In addition, Mowg was awarded Best Music for the Lunar New Year hit Miss Granny.

 

Following his recent retrospective at the Busan International Film Festival, classic Korean filmmaker JUNG Jin-woo was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. On the opposite side of the spectrum, new faces IM Si-wan (The Attorney), Kim Woo-bin (Friend: The Great Legacy), Honey LEE (Tazza: The Hidden Card) shared the Hana Financial Group Star Award.

 

Roaring Currents’ Best Film and Actor wins represent the third time running that a blockbuster custom drama has earned those awards at Daejong, following HAN Jae-rim’s The Face Reader (9.13 million admissions) and CHOO Chang-min’s Masquerade (12.32 million admissions), featuring SONG Kang-ho and LEE Byung-hun, respectively.