Korean actor Yang Jin-woo was the proud winner of the first ever Screen International/Star Summit Asia best new actor award, which was presented during the Asian Film Market in Pusan last week.

Screen presents the award to a participant in the Casting Board section of the Asian Film Market's Star Summit Asia programme who is believed to have the greatest potential to attract audiences and film financing within Asia, and to promote Asian cinema at an international level.

The international jury for the award was impressed by the diverse roles Yang has played successfully in the relatively short time he has been working. He is also talented, intelligent, able to speak Korean, English and Japanese, and has a strong idea of where his career is going.

Yang's credits include Won Shin-yeon's upcoming Seven Days, in which he plays a drugged-out rocker, and Kwon Yong-kuk's The Elephant On The Bike, which sees him give a quiet, introspective performance as a physically challenged young man.

Now in its second year, Star Summit Asia is a programme designed to encourage co-productions with Asian territories by showcasing the region's acting talent. This year, 14 actors were presented in two categories - Curtain Call for established stars and Casting Board for Asia's up-and-coming performers.

At the Casting Board showcase, the eight selected actors and actresses were interviewed about their careers, their hopes for the future and their ambitions to work on international films.

The best new actor award jury included Screen International editors Colin Brown, Michael Gubbins and Mike Goodridge, alongside the magazine's film critic Dan Fainaru, Asia Pacific editor Liz Shackleton and Korea correspondent Jean Noh. Screen was also honoured to welcome Han Sun-hee, editor of Korean film industry trade paper Film2.0, onto the jury.

CURTAIN CALL PRESS CONFERENCE

Six established stars were introduced to the international film industry and press at the Star Summit Asia Curtain Call press conference. They included (below, from left): Japanese star Tatsuya Fujiwara (Death Note), Thailand's Ananda Everingham (Ploy), US-Korean actor John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle), Korean actress Lim Soo-jung (I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK), Chinese actress Yu Nan (Tuya's Marriage) and Korean actor Zo In-sung (A Dirty Carnival).