The 16th annual Asian Film Awards ceremony was held at the Palace Museum in Hong Kong on March 12. First launched in 2007, the AFA’s are a film award show dedicated to recognizing the excellence of the film industries of Asia. This year Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou served as the head of the jury panel. “Drive My Car ” took home the award for Best Picture while Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award for “Broker” and Miyazawa Hio Best Supporting Actor for his role in LGBTQ+ film “Egoist.”
When “Drive My Car” won the award for the Best Picture Award, director Ryusuke Hamaguchi called all the staff and cast members on stage with him. Hamaguchi said, “I would like to praise the cast in particular. They showed emotions on the screen that the viewers could believe in. The actors really felt something, so they made the audience feel something too.” Other wins for Drive My Car include Eiko Ishibashi for Best Music and Azusa Yamazaki for Best Editing.
Hidetoshi Nishijima was nominated for the Best Actor Award , but ultimately lost to Hong Kong actor Tony Leung. He said, “I grew up watching Tony Leung’s acting, so it was an honor just to be able to be with him at the venue.”
Miyazawa Hio hugged co-star Ryohei Suzuki and director Daishi Matsunaga before taking the stage to collect his award for Best Supporting Actor in the movie “Egoist”. Egoist is the movie adaptation of Makoto Takoyama’s autobiographical novel about a young gay boy navigating through life after the death of his mother, and the bittersweet romance with a personal trainer that follows. In his speech, Miyazawa commented in English, “I believe that this movie will open many doors, such as a new ways of living and interacting with people,” After expressing his gratitude to Suzuki and Matsunaga, who were visibly moved to tears in the audience, he went on to finish by saying “I believe this film has the power and motivation to reach out to people. I look forward to coming back here.”
Hiroshi Abe was not only given an achievement award for his contributions to Asian cinema, but also won the Best Dressed Award, which was selected from the participants who walked the red carpet on the day. In his speech, Abe said, “It was a wonderful experience to work with many talented people in different countries. Among them, Hong Kong was particularly memorable. I would like to thank all the people who supported me.”
When Hirokazu Koreeda won Best Director Award for the film “Broker”, he apologized for not coming up with a speech beforehand. He finished off by saying “This award is an encouragement to continue making films that transcend cultures and languages, just like this internationally co-produced movie, so I’d like to do my best from here on”
In addition, “Decision to Leave” tied with “Drive My Car” for the most awards won (3 each).
The full list of winners is as follows:
Best Picture
Drive My Car
Best Director
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Broker
Best New Director
Jigme Trinley, One and Four
Best Actor
Tony Leung, Where the Wind Blows
Best Actress
Tang Wei, Decision to Leave
Best Supporting Actor
Hio Miyazawa, Egoist
Best Supporting Actress
Kim So-jin, Emergency Declaration
Best New Actor
Mak Pui-Tung, The Sparring Partner
Best Screenplay
Jung Seo-kyung , Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave
Best Editing
Azusa Yamazaki, Drive My Car
Best Cinematography
Liu Songye, One and Four
Best Original Music
Eiko Ishibashi, Drive My Car
Best Costume Design
Karen Yip, Dora Ng, Anita
Best Art Direction
Ryu Sung-hee, Decision to Leave
Best Visual Effects
Chas Chau, Wai Kit Leung, Tai Kwok, Warriors of Future
Best Sound
Tu Duu-Chih, Anita
Excellence in Asian Cinema Award
Hiroshi Abe
Special Achievement Award
Sammo Hung
Asian Film Contribution Award
Tony Leung
AFA Next Generation Award
Ji Chang-Wook
AFA X STI Best Dressed Award
Hiroshi Abe
