Asian Film Awards win in Macau

For the second year in a row, the Asian Film Awards (AFA) were hosted in a casino in Macau. The very upmarket Venetian did the honours for an event that saw LOU Ye’s Blind Massage walk away from the table as Best Film.

By country, it was China’s night with ten of the 13 juried awards going to films from the mainland (including two made with Hong Kong partners).

Last year’s Berlinale champion Black Coal, Thin Ice got off to a good start with writer-director Diao Yinan taking the screenwriting gong. It later added another win to become one of three titles taking a brace of awards. Blind Massage and The Golden Era were the others. The Golden Era director Ann Hui, who last picked up the Best Director awardat Hong Kong’s Director’s Guild ceremony, repeated the win here.

William CHANG Suk Ping, who last year won both the Costume and Production Design awards for The Grandmaster repeated his win in the Costume Design category this year for Gone With The Bullets.

Gone With The Bullets, Jiang Wen’s follow up to Let the Bullets Fly was the most awarded title of the evening, even though it wasn’t nominated for the Best Film or Director awards.

This year the AFA’s honorary Excellence in Asian Cinema Award went to former AFA Best Actress winner NAKATANI Miki (Nakashima Tetsuya’s Memories of Matsuko), who’s best known beyond Asia for her performances in the original Japanese versions of The Ring and The Ring 2.

South Korea’s IM Kwon-taek received the lifetime achievement award. Im has made 102 films in 53 years. The most recent, Revivre, premiered last year in Venice and is screening in the HKIFF.

The Asian Film Awards (AFA) ran 25 March in Macau. Associated events include the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), the Hong Kong Asia Financing Forum (HAF, 23 – 25 March), market event FILMART (23 – 26 March), and the Hong Kong Film Awards (22 April), all of which run as part of the Hong Kong Entertainment Expo.

The 2015 AFA winners are (marked ***):

Best Film
Black Coal, Thin Ice
*** Blind Massage
Haider
Hill Of Freedom
Ode To My Father
The Light Shines Only There

Best Director
LOU Ye, Blind Massage
TSUKAMOTO Shinya, Fires On The Plain
Lav DIAZ, From What Is Before
Vishal BHARDWAJ, Haider
HONG Sang-soo, Hill Of Freedom
*** Ann HUI, The Golden Era

Best Actor
*** LIAO Fan, Black Coal, Thin Ice
KASE Ryo, Hill Of Freedom
Sean LAU Ching-wan, Overheard 3
Ethan RUAN, Paradise In Service
CHOI Min-sik, Roaring Currents
SATOH Takeru, Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends

Best Actress
*** Bae Doo-na, A Girl At My Door
GONG Li, Coming Home
ZHAO Wei, Dearest
Kalki KOECHLIN, Margarita, With A Straw
MIYAZAWA Rie, Pale Moon
TANG Wei, The Golden Era

Best Newcomer
DOH Kyung-soo, Cart
ZHANG Huiwen, Coming Home
Ivana WONG, Golden Chickensss
TOSAKA Hiroomi, Hot Road
*** ZHAN Huaiyun, Meeting Dr. Sun

Best Supporting Actor
CHO Jin-woong, A Hard Day
QIN Hao, Blind Massage
CHEN Jianbin, Paradise In Service
*** WANG Zhiwen, The Golden Era
ITO Hideaki, Wood Job!

Best Supporting Actress
HAN Ye-ri, Haemoo
Tabassum HASHMI, Haider
WAN Qian, Paradise In Service
*** IKEWAKI Chizuru, The Light Shines Only There
KUROKI Haru, The Little House

Best Screenwriter
KIM Seong-hun, A Hard Day
*** DIAO Yinan, Black Coal, Thin Ice
Chaitanya TAMHANE, Court
LI Qiang, The Golden Era
TAKADA Ryo, The Light Shines Only There

Best Cinematographer
DONG Jinsong, Black Coal, Thin Ice
*** ZENG Jian, Blind Massage
CHOI Chan-min, Kundo: Age Of The Rampant
KONDO Ryuto, My Man
Matt FLANNERY, Dimas Imam SUBHONO, The Raid 2: Berandal

Best Production Designer
*** LIU Qing, Gone With The Bullets
Subrata CHAKRABORTY, Amit RAY, Haider
PARK Il-hyun, Kundo: Age Of The Rampant
HAYASHIDA Yuji, SAKUSHIMA Eri, Over Your Dead Body
YI Zhenzhou, The Taking Of Tiger Mountain

Best Composer
CUI Jian, LIU Yuan, Blue Sky Bones
ZHANG Yilin, HISAISHI Joe, DOU Peng, George ACOGNY, SHU Nan, Gone With The Bullets
*** Mikey MCCLEARY, Margarita, With A Straw
MOWG, The Fatal Encounter
BCDMG, Tokyo Tribe

Best Editor
KIM Chang-ju, A Hard Day
SUNAGA Hiroshi, One Third
Patrick TAM, Curran PANG, That Demon Within
KWONG Chi-leung, Manda WAI, The Golden Era
*** Gareth EVANS, The Raid 2: Berandal

Best Visual Effects
*** Rick SANDER, Christoph ZOLLINGER, Gone With The Bullets
YAMAZAKI Takashi, Parasyte
TONG Ka-wai, Ken LAW, Randy TSE, Lucky Tracy Hannah, The Midnight After
KANG Jong-ik, The Pirates
KIM Wook, The Taking Of Tiger Mountain

Best Costume Designer
LIANG Tingting, Brotherhood Of Blades
*** William CHANG Suk Ping, Gone With The Bullets
TSUGE Isao, Over Your Dead Body
CHONG Kyong-hee, The Fatal Encounter
KWON Yoo-jin, The Taking Of Tiger Mountain