The stunning South Korean drama Secret Sunshine picked up three of the top awards at the 2nd annual Asian Film Awards show on Monday.
Earning critical raves since it premiered last May at the Cannes Film Festival, the film won Best Asian film, Best Director for Lee Chang-dong and Best Actress for Jeon Do-yeon.
Picking up awards for Best Production Design and Best Supporting Actress for Joan Chen, The Sun Also Rises proved to be the only other film to win multiple awards. Tony Leung won Best Actor for his role in Ang Lee’s controversial Lust, Caution, while Sun Honglei won Best Supporting Actor for Mongol.
Although Mongol has a release scheduled in the United States for June, The Sun Also Rises and Secret Sunshine have yet to find US distributors. You can read our review of Secret Sunshine from its New York Film Festival screening here.
The remainder of the awards were picked up by mainland China films with the exception of India’s Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani, who won Best Composers for their work on Om Shanti Om.
Best Film- Secret Sunshine
Best Director- Lee Chang-dong, Secret Sunshine
Best Actor- Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Lust, Caution
Best Actress- Jeon Do-yeon, Secret Sunshine
Best Supporting Actor- Sun Honglei, Mongol
Best Supporting Actress- Joan Chen, The Sun Also Rises
Best Screenwriter- Au Kin-yee and Wai Ka-fai, Mad Detective
Best Cinematographer- Liao Pen-jung, Help Me Eros
Best Production Designer- Cao Jiu-ping and Zhang Jian-qun, The Sun Also Rises
Best Composer- Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani, Om Shanti Om
Best Editor- David Richardson, Eye In The Sky
Via Variety Asia.