HONG KONG - Hong Kong's veteran actor Sean Lau Ching-wan won the Best Actor award for the family drama film Papa at the Asian Film Awards on Sunday night.
Marking its 18th edition, this year's awards showcased 30 exceptional films from 25 countries or regions, competing for 16 awards. The nominated works were diverse in genre and the competition was intense.
The Best Actress award was bestowed upon Shahana Goswami for the crime drama story Santosh. Meanwhile, the film's director Sandhya Suri won the Best New Director award.
Drama film All We Imagine as Light, with six nominations, was named the Best Film. The Best Director award went to Daihachi Yoshida from Japan for his drama film Teki Cometh.
Nominated for nine awards, Hong Kong's martial arts action film Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In earned two honors including Best Editing and Best Production Design. The movie centered around the infamous Kowloon Walled City, evoking a wave of nostalgia with exhibitions across the city featuring a series of replicas of the movie set.
ALSO READ: A star-studded evening
The Best Supporting Actor and Actress were presented to the mystery thriller Stranger Eyes' Lee Kang-sheng and the drama film Yen and Ai-Lee's Yang Kuei-mei, respectively.
Political drama film The Seed of the Sacred Fig earned the the Best Screenplay award. Japanese actor Kurihara Hayato took home the Best Newcomer honor for his lead role in Japanese-American drama film Happyend.
Chu Wan-pin, composer from the SAR, clinched the Best Original Music award for the drama film The Last Dance.
Chinese mainland actress Tang Wei and South Korean screen icon Jang Dong-gun were honored with the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award for their remarkable achievements to Asian cinema, while Japanese actor Koji Yakusho was the recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize his four-decade contributions to cinema.
READ MORE: Asia film sector eyes a boost
Established in 2007, the Asian Film Awards aimed to showcase outstanding Asian films to global audiences. Since 2014, they have been hosted by the Asian Film Awards Academy, jointly founded by international film festivals of Hong Kong, Busan and Tokyo.
