lee chang dong

Source: AFA

Lee Chang-dong

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters won best film at this year’s Asian Film Awards (March 17), although Zhang Yimou’s Shadow took home the biggest haul of prizes with four awards in the technical categories.

Shoplifters was also presented with the award for best original music for its score by Haruomi Hosono.

Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong took best director for Burning and was also presented with the lifetime achievement award. Japan’s Koji Yakusho won best actor for The Blood Of Wolves and also took home the Excellence in Asian Cinema award.

Best actress went to Samal Yeslyamova for Akya, a co-production between Russia, Germany, Poland, Kazakhstan and mainland China.

Hong Kong’s Kara Wai won best supporting actress for Tracey, while best supporting actor went to China’s Zhang Yu for Dying To Survive.

China’s Jia Zhangke won best screenplay for Ash Is Purest White. Best new director went to Hong Kong’s Oliver Chan Siu Kuen for Still Human, while Chinese actor Johnny Huang Jingyu took best newcomer for Operation Red Sea.

Shadow’s four awards included best cinematography (Zhao Xiaoding), best costume design (Chen Minzheng), best production design (Ma Kwong Wing) and best sound (Yang Jiang, Zhao Nan).

Best editing went to Tsukamoto Shinya for Killing (Japan) and best visual effects to Alex Lim Hung Fung for Project Gutenberg (Hong Kong-China).

Korean singer-songwriter Kim Jae-joong won the AFA Next Generation Award, while Korean actor Park Seo-jun took the AFA Rising Star Award.