Louis koo, sylvia chang and feng xiaogang

Source: Asian Film Awards

Louis Koo, Sylvia Chang and Feng Xiaogang

Chinese director Feng Xiaogang’s period drama Youth scooped best film at this year’s Asian Film Awards, which were held at the Venetian Macao on Saturday night (March 17).

Chen Kaige’s Legend Of The Demon Cat, a co-production between Hong Kong, China and Japan, took the most prizes overall winning four awards, including best supporting actress (Zhang Yuqi), best costume design (Chen Tongxun), best production design (Tu Nan, Lu Wei) and best visual effects (Ishii Norio).

Japanese filmmaker Ishii Yuya won best director for The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always The Darkest Shade Of Blue, while best new director went to China’s Dong Yue for The Looming Storm.

Hong Kong star Louis Koo picked up the best actor award for Paradox, which also scooped best action film. Taiwan’s Sylvia Chang won best actress for Love Education, which she also directed.

Korean actor Yang Ik-june won best supporting actor for Japanese drama Wilderness. Best newcomer went to Thai actress Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying for Bad Genius, a drama about exam cheating that was a big hit in China last year. (Chuengcharoensukying was the recipient of Screen International’s Rising Star Asia award last year.) 

Best screenplay went to Mayank Tewari and Amit V Masurkar for Indian social drama Newton, which Masurkar also directed.

Among the technical awards, Korean political drama The King won best editing (Shin Min-kyung), while best cinematography went to Korean historical drama The Fortress (Kim Ji-yong).

Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi won best original music for Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui’s Our Time Will Come. Best sound went to Tu Duu-chih and Wu Shu-yao for Taiwanese black comedy The Great Buddha+.

The Excellence in Asian Cinema Award was presented to Hong Kong actress Kara Wai Ying-hung.