HILL OF FREEDOM and A HARD DAY Nominated in Multiple Categories
The 9th Asian Film Awards, which is to be held on March 25th in Hong Kong, has announced the nominees for its 14 sections. In each category, at least one Korean film or a film professional was selected, reaffirming Korea as a major player in the Asian film industry. The Asian Film Awards searches for talents from across Asia and recognizes their work and performances. The awards have been running in Hong Kong since 2007.
In the Best Film category is
JK Youn’s
Ode to My Father, which recently passed the 14 million admissions mark and the all time second highest grossing film at theKorean box office.
HONG Sangsoo’s
Hill of Freedom was nominated in the same section, while HONG is on the shortlist for Best Director. KASE Ryo, who stars in HONG’s feature, is also up for the Best Actor award. In addition,
Roaring Currents’
CHOI Min-shik is up the same prize. This film, which rewrote Korean film history last year, is about the real life hero Admiral YI Sun-shin. CHOI has already won various awards for this role including Grand Bell Awards, Blue Dragon Awards, and Maxmovie Best Film Awards, which are decided by viewers. CHOI now looks towards the Asian Film Awards to see if he can add another trophy to his collection.
BAE Doo-na of
A Girl at My Door has her name on the list for the Best Actress Award. Along with BAE, popular Chinese actresses GONG Li of
Coming Home, and TANG Wei of
The Golden Era are in the running and the competition is expected to be fierce.
A Hard Day’s
CHO Jin-woong and
Haemoo’s
HAN Ye-ri were also nominated for the Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress awards, respectively. Dio (DOH Kyung-soo) from
Cart, a film that touches on the problematic working conditions of contract workers at a supermarket, is listed in the Best Newcomer category.
KIM Seong-hun of
A Hard Day was nominated for Best Screenwriter.
A Hard Day was selected in three categories including Best Editor, Best Screenwriter and Best Supporting Actor. In both Best Cinematographer and Best Production Design,
Kundo: Age of the Rampant made the cut, while
The Fatal Encounter was nominated in the Best Composer and Best Costume Designer categories. Meanwhile,
The Pirates is in the running for Best Visual Effects.