Celebrating its 17th year, the Asian Film Awards (AFA) has announced the nominees for its 16 award categories ahead of the ceremony, which will take place on March 10, 2024 (Sun).

Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA) was founded by Busan, Hong Kong and Tokyo International Film Festivals to celebrate excellence in Asian cinema. AFAA highlights, strengthens and develops the Asian film industry through the annual Asian Film Awards and several year-round initiatives to promote and recognize Asian films and their talents.

35 Films from 16 Categories Unveiled
Korean Film, <12.12: The Day> Becomes Most Nominated Film with 6 Nominations!

The Nomination of 6 Korean films that span a spectrum of genres in all 16 award categories for AFA17 is garnering much anticipation. Starting with 12.12: The Day, which attracted over 10 million admissions, Concrete Utopia, The Moon, and Smugglers, heated up Korean theaters last summer, and Sleep officially selected for Critic’s Week in the 76th Cannes Film Festival and 1947 Boston, based on a true story.

Notable among the 35 shortlisted films is 12.12: The Day, one of the most nominated films in this year’s Awards. Based on the real-life “12.12 Military Insurrection” of 1979 in South Korea, the political drama follows the intense struggles of military personnel during the mutiny. The film was nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography. Also receiving six nominations is the film Evil Does Not Exist by Japanese director HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke whose earlier work Drive My Car won Best Film at the 16th Asian Film Awards. It is nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Original Music.

Furthermore, actress JUNG Yu-mi, who showed a sharp performance as a wife who cannot sleep due to repeated fears every night in Sleep, was nominated for Best Actress, and director Jason YU was nominated for Best Screenplay. In the maritime crime action adventure, Smugglers, the two actors PARK Jung-min and GO Min-si, who brought vitality with their unrivaled character portrayal, were nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Costume Design (YOON Jung-hee).

Disaster thriller, Concrete Utopia is nominated for Best Production Design (CHO Hwa-sung), Best Visual Effects (EUN Jae-hyun), Best Sound (KIM Hyun-sang), and The Moon, which gave the audience the best experience by visualizing the universe and the moon realistically, is nominated for Best Visual Effects (JIN Jong-hyun). 1947 Boston, created a sensation with the first Korean national marathon runners, receives the nomination for Best Original Music (LEE Dong-june).

The First Japanese Director as AFA Jury President, KUROSAWA Kiyoshi

Renowned Japanese director KUROSAWA Kiyoshi will serve as Jury President for this year’s Awards. As the first Japanese director to serve as AFA Jury President, KUROSAWA Kiyoshi is deeply honored: “Asia is a treasure trove of films. It is a collection of various realities and stories this era holds, which I believe are come from the rich diversity flowing among people. At the Asian Film Awards, I look forward to discovering unique and richly captivating films that no one has seen before”. He will lead the Jury and over 200 Voting Members in selecting the winners for this year’s Asian Film Awards.

Winners of other AFA awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Excellence in Asian Cinema Award, AFA Next Generation Award and Rising Star Award will be announced later, along with details on the film roadshow programme “Asian Film Awards - Asian Cinerama” and other official events.

The 17th Asian Film Awards Ceremony will take place at the Xiqu Centre of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong on 10th March 2024. The prestigious event will also be streamed live on the AFAA ’s official YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/AsianFilmAwardsAcademy).


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