‘Evil Does Not Exist,’ ‘12.12: The Day’ Lead Asian Film Awards Nominations

Patrick Frater
·5 min read
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Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist” and Korean blockbuster “12.12: The Day” dominated the nominations for the 17th edition of the Asian Film Awards. Both picked up six nominations, including those in the best film category.

The nominations were announced on Friday afternoon in Hong Kong, ahead of a ceremony on March 10, that will return to the city’s West Kowloon Cultural District and the Qiyu Centre.

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The AFAs risk repeating themselves in another way. In 2023, Korean romantic-crime drama “Decision to Leave” was the most nominated title, picking up nominations in ten categories. But it only won three prizes and lost the best picture award to Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car.”

The 2024 prizes will be decided by a jury headed by cult Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi (“Cure,” “Pulse,” “Wife of a Spy”). He sent a video message to the nominations event and praised the AFAs for helping with Asia’s cinematic diversity.

The nominations, however, were heavily clustered among titles from East Asia – Korea, Japan and Greater China – with only one film purely from South Asia receiving a nod. That was Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage’s “Paradise,” which collected four nominations, including ones for best film and for best director. (Indian-Chinese co-production “Rapture” also scored.) Another film to collect four nominations was “Snow Leopard,” by Pema Tseden, the Tibetan-Chinese director who died last year.

The AFAs will kick off a month of frantic film activity in Hong Kong. They precede Hong Kong FilMart, the biggest film rights market in Asia, and the HAF film project market. At the end of the month Hong Kong International Film Festival will swing into action.

Asian Film Awards 2024 Nominations

Best Film
“12.12: The Day” (South Korea)
“Evil Does Not Exist” (Japan)
“Paradise” (Sri Lanka, India)
“Perfect Days” (Japan)
“Snow Leopard” (China)

Best Director
KIM Sung-soo for “12.12: The Day” (South Korea)
GU Xiaogang for “Dwelling by the West Lake” (China)
HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke for “Evil Does Not Exist” (Japan)
KORE-EDA Hirokazu for “Monster” (Japan)
Prasanna VITHANAGE for “Paradise” (Sri Lanka, India)

Best New Director
Khagvadulam PUREV-OCHIR for “City of Wind” (France, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Qatar, Germany)
PHAM THIEN An for “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” (Vietnam, Singapore, France, Spain)
Dominic SANGMA for “Rapture” (India, China, Switzerland, Qatar, Netherlands)
Amanda Nell EU for “Tiger Stripes” (Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, Qatar)
Nick CHEUK for “Time Still Turns the Pages” (Hong Kong)

Best Actor
HWANG Jung-min in “12.12: The Day” (South Korea)
WU Kang-Ren in “Abang Adik” (Malaysia)
SHEN Teng in “Full River Red” (China)
YAKUSHO Koji in “Perfect Days” (Japan)

Tony LEUNG Chiu Wai in “The Goldfinger” (Hong Kong, China)

Best Actress
JIANG Qinqin in “Dwelling by the West Lake” (China)
JUNG Yu-mi in “Sleep” (South Korea)
ZHOU Dongyu in “The Breaking Ice” (China, Singapore)
Audrey LIN in “Trouble Girl” (Taiwan)
KIKUCHI Rinko in “658km Yoko” (Japan)

Best Supporting Actor
PARK Hoon in “12.12: The Day” (South Korea)
Jack TAN in “Abang Adik” (Malaysia)
NAKAMURA Shido in “Kubi” (Japan)
PARK Jung-min in “Smugglers” (South Korea)
Sean WONG in “Time Still Turns the Pages” (Hong Kong)

Best Supporting Actress
HAMABE Minami in “Godzilla Minus One” (Japan)
Rachel LEUNG in “In Broad Daylight” (Hong Kong)
TSUTSUI Mariko in “Last Shadow at First Light” (Singapore, Japan, Slovenia, The Philippines, Indonesia)
GO Min-si in “Smugglers” (South Korea)
WAN Fang in “Snow in Midsummer” (Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore)

Best Newcomer
Tergel Bold-Erdene in “City of Wind” (Mongolia, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Qatar, Germany)
Awat RATANAPINTHA in “Doi Boy” (Thailand, Cambodia)
Yoyo TSE in “Fly Me to the Moon” (Hong Kong)
WANG Yibo in “Hidden Blade” (China)
SHIRATA Mihaya in “Last Shadow at First Light” (Singapore, Japan, Slovenia, The Philippines, Indonesia)

Best Screenplay
HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke for “Evil Does Not Exist” (Japan)
SAKAMOTO Yuji for “Monster”
Prasanna VITHANAGE and Anushka SENANAYAKE for “Paradise” (Sri Lanka, India)
Jason YU for “Sleep” (South Korea)
Pema Tseden for “Snow Leopard” (China)

Best Editing
KIM Sang-bum for “12.12: The Day” (South Korea)
HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke, and YAMAZAKI Azusa for “Evil Does Not Exist” (Japan)
Matthieu LACLAU for “Only the River Flows” (China)
A. Sreekar PRASAD for “Paradise” (Sri Lanka, India)
Nick CHEUK, Keith CHAN Hiu Chun for “Time Still Turns the Pages” (Hong Kong)

Best Cinematography
LEE Mo-gae for “12.12: The Day” (South Korea)
KITAGAWA Yoshio for “Evil Does Not Exist” (Japan)
CHENGMA Zhiyuan for “Only the River Flows” (China)
Azamat DULATOV for “Qas” (Kazakhstan)
Matthias DELVAUX for “Snow Leopard” (China)

Best Original Music
UMEBAYASHI Shigeru for “Dwelling by the West Lake” (China)
ISHIBASHI Eiko for “Evil Does Not Exist” (Japan)
Akmaral MERGEN for “Qas” (Kazakhstan)
Anon Ch Momin for “Rapture” (India, China, Switzerland, Qatar, Netherlands)
LEE Dong-june for “1947 Road to Boston” (South Korea)

Best Costume Design
Tim YIP for “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” (China)
KUROSAWA Kazuko for “Kubi” (Japan)
YOON Jung-hee for “Smugglers” (South Korea)
Elaine NG for “Snow in Midsummer” (Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore)
MAN Lim Chung for “The Goldfinger” (Hong Kong, China)

Best Production Design
CHO Hwa-sung for “Concrete Utopia” (South Korea)
MITSUMATSU Keiko for “Monster” (Japan)
ZHANG Menglun for “Only the River Flows” (China)
Daktse Drundrup for “Snow Leopard” (China)
Eric LAM for “The Goldfinger” (Hong Kong, China)

Best Visual Effects
EUN Jae-hyun for “Concrete Utopia” (South Korea)
Douglas Hans SMITH for “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” (China)
YAMAZAKI Takashi, SHIBUYA Kiyoko, TAKAHASHI Masaki, NOJIMA Tatsuji for “Godzilla Minus One” (Japan)
JIN Jong-Hyun for “The Moon” (South Korea)
Allen WEI, Ahdee CHIU, DING Yanlai, Eric XU for “The Wandering Earth II” (China)

Best Sound
KIM Hyun-sang for “Concrete Utopia” (South Korea)
YANG Jiang, ZHAO Nan for “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” (China)
INOUE Natsuko for “Godzilla Minus One” (Japan)
Vuong Gia Bao, Xander TOH for “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” (Vietnam, Singapore, France, Spain)
TU Duu-Chih, WU Shu-Yao for “Snow in Midsummer” (Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore).

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