Asian Film Awards: Korean Historical Drama ‘12.12: The Day’ & Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ Lead Nominations

Zac Ntim
·4 min read
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Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, and the period action pic 12.12: The Day, from Korea, lead the nominations at this year’s Asian Film Awards.

Both films received six nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. Directed by Kim Sung-soo, whose credits include Asura: The City Of Madness and The Flu, 12.12: The Day is set against the backdrop of the real-life military coup of 1979, which resulted in an eight-year military junta in South Korea. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Jung Woo-sung (Asura: The City Of Madness), and Lee Sung-min (The Spy Gone North). Released on November 22, the film sailed past the 12 million admissions mark at the Korean box office over the Christmas holiday period, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 in the market.

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Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist — which debuted out of Venice — follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life. The feature is his first feature-length work since the Oscar-winning Drive My Car.

Elsewhere, Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-based drama Perfect Days clocked noms in Best Film and Best Actor for Yakusho Koji while Hirokazu Koreeda pops up in Best Director for his Cannes competition pic Monster.

The 2024 prize winners will be decided by a jury headed by filmmaker Kurosawa Kiyoshi, the first Japanese filmmaker to preside over the Film Awards jury.

“I am very privileged to be given this prestigious role. Asia is a treasure trove of films. I believe this comes from the rich diversity that exists among the various realities, stories, and people of this region,” he said. “I look forward to discovering the richness of the totally unique films that no one has seen before at this year’s Asian Film Awards.”

Check out the full nominations list below:

Best Film

  • 12.12: The Day

  • Evil Does Not Exist

  • Paradise

  • Perfect Days

  • Snow Leopard

Best Director

  • Kim Sung-soo — 12.12: The Day

  • Gu Xiaogang — Dwelling by the West Lake

  • Hamaguchi Ryusuke — Evil Does Not Exist

  • Kore-eda Hirokazu — Monster

  • Prasanna Vithanage — Paradise

Best Actor

  • Hwang Jung-min — 12.12: The Day

  • Wu Kang-Ren — Abang Adik

  • Shen Teng — Full River Red

  • Yakusho Koji — Perfect Days

  • Tong Leung Chiu Wai — The Goldfinger

Best Actress

  • Jiang Qinqin — Dwelling by the West Lake

  • Jung Yu-mi — Sleep

  • Zhou Dongyu — The Breaking Ice

  • Audrey Lin — Trouble Girl

  • Rinko Kikuchi — YOKO

Best Supporting Actor

  • Park Hoon — 12.12: The Day

  • Jack Tan — Abang Adik

  • Nakamura Shido — Kubi

  • Park Jung-min — Smugglers

  • Sean Wong — Time Still Turns the Pages

Best Supporting Actress

  • Hamabe Minami — Godzilla Minus One

  • Rachel Leung — In Broad Daylight

  • Tsutsui Mariko — Last Shadow at First Light

  • Go Min-si — Smugglers

  • Wan Fang — Snow in Midsummer

Best New Director

  • Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir — City of Wind

  • Pham Thien An — Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

  • Dominic Sangma — Rapture

  • Amanda Nell Eu — Tiger Stripes

  • Nick Cheuk — Time Still Turns the Pages

Best Newcomer

  • Tergel Bold-Erdene — City of Wind

  • Awat Ratanapintha — Doi Boy

  • Yoyo Tse — Fly Me to the Moon

  • Wang Yibo — Hidden Blade

  • Shirata Mihaya — Last Shadow at First Light

Best Screenplay

  • Hamaguchi Ryusuke — Evil Does Not Exist

  • Sakamoto Yuji — Monster

  • Prasanna Vithanage, Anushka Senanayake — Paradise

  • Jason Yu — Sleep

  • Pema Tseden — Snow Leopard

Best Editing

  • Kim Sang-bum — 12.12: The Day

  • Hamaguchi Ryusuke, Yamazaki Azusa — Evil Does Not Exist

  • Matthieu Laclau — Only the River Flows

  • A. Sreekar Prasad — Paradise

  • Nick Cheuk, Keith Chan Hiu Chun — Time Still Turns the Pages

Best Cinematography

  • Lee Mo-gae — 12.12: The Day

  • Kitagawa Yoshio — Evil Does Not Exist

  • Chengma Zhiyuan — Only the River Flows

  • Azamat Dulatov — Qas

  • Matthias Delvaux — Snow Leopard

Best Original Music

  • Umebayashi Shigeru — Dwelling by the West Lake

  • Ishibashi Eiko — Evil Does Not Exist

  • Akmaral Mergen — Qas

  • Anon Ch Momin — Rapture

  • Lee Dong-june — Road to Boston

Best Costume Design

  • Tim Yip — Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms

  • Kurosawa Kazuko — Kubi

  • Yoon Jung-hee — Smugglers

  • Elaine Ng — Snow in Midsummer

  • Man Lim Chung — The Goldfinger

Best Production Design

  • Cho Hwa-sung — Concrete Utopia

  • Mitsumatsu Keiko — Monster

  • Zhang Menglun — Only the River Flows

  • Daktse Drundrup — Snow Leopard

  • Eric Lam — The Goldfinger

Best Visual Effects

  • Eun Jae-hyun — Concrete Utopia

  • Douglas Hans Smith — Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms

  • Yamazaki Takashi, Shibuya Kiyoko, Takahashi Masaki, Nojima Tatsuji — Godzilla Minus One

  • Jin Jong-hyun — The Moon

  • Allen Wei, Ahdee Chiu, Ding Yanlai, Eric Xu — The Wandering Earth II

Best Sound

  • Kim Hyun-sang — Concrete Utopia

  • Yang Jiang, Zhao Nan — Creation of the Gods I: King of Storms

  • Inoue Natsuko — Godzilla Minus One

  • Vuong Gia Bao, Xander Toh — Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

  • Tu Duu-Chih, Wu Shu-Yao — Snow in Midsummer

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