Upsets, upsets, upsets.OK, I don’t know how big the upsets were, but they were billed that way when the inaugural Asian Film Awards were handed out Monday night with many surprise winners.
South Korea’s monster smash The Host won Best Film, Best Actor, Best Cinematographer and Best Visual Effects.
The biggest surprise of the evening, was the Best Actor win for Song Kang-ho, who beat out Japanese actor Ken Wantanabe for Letters From Iwo Jima.
Other awards included Best Director going to Jia Zhangke for China’s Still Life; Best Actress to Miki Nakatani for Japan’s Memories of Matsuko; Best Screenwriter to Mani Haghighi for Iran’s Men at Work; Best Production Designer to Tim Yip for the Hong Kong/Chinese production The Banquet; and Best Editor to Lee Chatametikool for the Thailand/Austrian/French production of Syndromes and a Century. Best Composer went to Rahayu Supanggah for the Indonesian/Austrian film Opera Jawa.
In addition to the ten award categories, special tributes were also an integral part of the ceremony with Luc Besson presenting legendary Asian actress Josephine Siao with the Asian Film Award for Outstanding Contribution to Asian Cinema; renowned director Johnnie To honored David Bordwell with the Asian Film Award for Excellence in Scholarship in Asian Cinema, and Asian actor Andy Lau was bestowed the Nielsen Box Office Star of Asia Award.
