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!  

Source: google

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!

The Asian Films Awards Academy, a non-profit organization, was founded by Busan, Hong Kong and Tokyo International Film Festivals with the shared goal of celebrating excellence in Asian cinema. Aiming to promote and recognize Asian films and its talents, AFAA highlights, strengthens and develops Asian film industry through the annual Asian Film Awards and several year-round initiatives.

The Asian Film Awards was inaugurated in 2007, where members of AFAA are drawn from its past nominees and winners. The category of awards includes Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. Members vote for the Asian Film Awards and participate in various AFAA activities involving film professionals and audiences in Asia and around the world.

■ The 29th Busan International Film Festival: Oct 2 (Wed) – Oct 11 (Fri)

■ The 19th Asian Contents & Film Market: Oct 5 (Sat) – Oct 8 (Tues)