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30th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
January 15, 2024
Jonathan Li won Best Director for the crime film Dust to Dust. Taiwan actor Wu Kang Ren, who recently won Best Actor at the Golden Horse Awards for Abang Adik, wins another Best Actor, this time for his performance in Fly Me to the Moon which also earned the Best Screenplay prize for writer-director Sasha Chuk. Jennifer Yu was named Best Actress for her role in Lawrence Kan's In Broad Daylight.
Eight films received special mention as recommended films of merit: Dust to Dust, Fly Me to the Moon, In Broad Daylight, Nick Cheuk's Time Still Turns the Pages, Felix Chong's The Goldfinger, Dora Choi and Haider Kikabhoy's documentary To Be Continued, Ann Hui's documentary Elegies and Norris Wong's The Lyricist Wannabe.
Text / Sanwei
12.12: The Day and Evil Does Not Exist lead 17th Asian Film Awards Nominations
January 12, 2024
35 films from 24 countries and region have been shortlisted to compete for 16 awards. Korean film 12.12: The Days and Japanese film Evil Does Not Exist are both nominated in six categories, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. 12.12: The Days is also nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, while Evil Does Not Exist is up for Best Screenplay and Best Original Music as well. They will compete with Paradise, Perfect Days and Snow Leopard for Best Film. Kim Sung Soo (12.12: The Day), Hamaguchi Ryusuke (Evil Does Not Exist) and Prasanna Vithanage (Paradise) will compete with Gu Xiaogang (Dwelling by the West Lake) and last year's winner Kore-eda Hirokazu (Monster) for Best Director.
Hong Kong films Time Still Turns the Pages and The Goldfinger each receive three nominations. Tony Leung Chiu Wai (The Goldfinger), last year's AFA Best Actor winner, is shortlisted for the award again along with 12.12: The Day's Hwang Jung Min, Full River Red's Shen Teng, Perfect Days' Yakusho Koji and Abang Adik's Wu Kang Ren, who recently won Best Actor at the Golden Horse Awards. Trouble Girl's Audrey Lin, who was crowned Best Actress at the Golden Horse Awards, is up for the title at the AFA again with Dwelling by the West Lake's Jiang Qinqin, Sleep's Jung Yu Mi, The Breaking Ice's Zhou Dongyu, and Yoko's Kikuchi Rinko.
Visit the Asian Film Awards official website for full list of nominations.
Text / Violet
Hins Cheung, Panther Chan & MIRROR win at Ultimate Song Chart Awards 2023
January 2, 2024
The rest of the Top Song of the Year winners include Gin Lee's Dum Dum. RubberBand's "Let's Take a Walk," Lolly Talk's "Set a Fire," On Chan's "Still You Still Me," MC Cheung Tinfu's "The One For U," Jay Fung's "Yes, I Know I Know," and Gigi Yim's Little Magic. Jason Chan's in Rhythm was named Ultimate Album of the Year.
Terence Lam again came first in Ultimate Male Singer and Ultimate Singer-songwriter categories as the Gold winner, along with the Ultimate Composer award. MC Cheung Tinfu was presented Ultimate Male Singer – Silver, while MIRROR's Ian Chan received Ultimate Singer-songwriter – Bronze for the second year in a row, alongside his first-ever Ultimate Male Singer – Bronze award. Gin Lee and Serrini picked up Ultimate Female Singer – Silver and Bronze. Dear Jane, Lolly Talk and COLLAR were recognized as Ultimate Group – Gold, Silver and Bronze, respectively.
Jeffrey Ngai, COLLAR's Marf and Beanies were the Gold winners of the Ultimate Male, Female and Group Newcomers, respectively. Other recipients of the Ultimate Newcomers award include Felix Lam, P1X3L's Marco Ip, Nancy Kwai, sica, XiX and N9. Wyman Wong collected his tenth Ultimate Lyricist trophy. Edward Chan walked away with Ultimate Music Producer award, and Ultimate Music Arranger went to Nick Wong.
Text / Violet
Kingdom 4 returns in summer 2024
December 16, 2023
Yamazaki Kento continues to star in the leading role of young warrior Shin who assists Yoshizawa Ryo’s King Eisei (Qin Shi Huang). Kikkawa Koji joins the franchise as their strongest enemy Houken, and Oguri Shun as mysterious strategist Riboku. Other regular cast members of the film series including Nana Seino, Tamaki Hiroshi, Osawa Takao, Sato Koichi, Nagasawa Masami, Yamada Yuki and Yamamoto Koji reprise their roles.
Kingdom 4 will be released in Japan on July 12, 2024.
Text / Sanwei
NewJeans, IVE & NCT Dream win Daesang at 15th Melon Music Awards
December 6, 2023
Besides the aforementioned groups, (G)I-DLE (I feel), aespa (My World), Jung Kook (Seven feat. Latto), LE SSERAFIM (UNFORGIVEN), Lim Young Woong (Do or Die) and Seventeen (FML) all grabbed both Top 10 Artist and Millions Top 10 Artist titles. The last spots in Top 10 Artist and Millions Top 10 Artist went, respectively, to BTS and Seventeen's subunit BSS (Second Wind). Jung Kook walked away with Best Male Solo Award and Hot Trend Award, and BTS came first in Kakao Favorite Star Award. Lee Young Ji collected the Best Female Solo trophy, while RIIZE and ZEROBASEONE were named New Artists of the Year. Charlie Puth was recognized as Best Pop Artist. Lim Jae Hyun picked up Best OST for Heaven (2023), and Silica Gel's Tik Tak Tok (feat. So!YoON! attained Best Music Style.
SHINee's SHINee World VI: Perfect Illumination was hailed as Stage of the Year. aespa came away with Global Artist award, as well as Best Female and Male Performance awards with Seventeen. STAYC's Bubble was the winner of Music Video of the Year. Ryan Jhun carried off the Songwriter Award. Rookie groups BOYNEXTDOOR and KISS OF LIFE were presented the Global Rising Artist and 1theK Global Icon awards, respectively. J-pop Favorite Artist went to singer-songwriter imase.
Text / Violet
NewJeans, Seventeen & BTS win Grand Prize at 2023 MAMA Awards
November 30, 2023
Besides Worldwide Icon of the Year, BTS also received Best OST (The Planet), Best Male Artist (Jimin), Best Male Solo Dance Performance (Jung Kook, Seven), Best Rap & Hip-Hop Performance (Agust D, People Pt. 2 feat. IU), Best Collaboration (Jung Kook, Seven) and Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10.
BLACKPINK's Ji Soo attained Best Female Artist, Best Female Solo Dance Performance (Flower) and Best Music Video (Flower). ZEROBASEONE was recognized as Best New Artist alongside tripleS, and they also walked away with Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10, plus Favorite New Artist with RIIZE. Winners of Best Solo and Group Vocal Performances were Parc Jae Jung (Let's Break Up) and AKMU (Love Lee), respectively.
TVXQ was recognized with the Inspiring Achievement award at the ceremony. The rest of Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10 went to ATEEZ, ENHYPEN, Lim Young Woong, NCT Dream, Stray Kids, TXT and Twice.
Yoshiki was hailed as Favorite International Artist, while Favorite Asian Male and Female Groups went to INI and Kep1er. Treasure and LE SSERAFIM collected Favorite Male and Female Group Performances, and ATEEZ and (G)I-DLE picked up the Favorite Global Performer trophies. The cast of Street Woman Fighter 2 walked away with the Culture and Style award, and Treasure carried off the Neo Flip Artist Award.
Text / Violet
Smugglers wins Best Film at 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards
November 28, 2023
Sleep's Jung Yu Mi and Cobweb's Jeon Yeo Been were named Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. Hong Xa Bin, from writer-director Kim Chang Hoon's feature debut Hopeless, received the Best New Actor award.
Next Sohee's writer Jung Ju Ri was presented Best Screenplay. The Night Owl won three prizes: Best New Director (Ahn Tae Jin), Best Editing (Kim Sun Min) and Best Cinematography and Lighting. Best Art Direction went to Cobweb, Technical Award – VFX to The Moon, and Best Short Film to Ghwa the Last Name.
Besides Park Bo Young, other Popular Star Award winners include Song Joong Ki, Jo In Sung and Kim Seon Ho. Following The Roundup last year, the crime action series' third installment, The Roundup: No Way Out, was again selected for this year's Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Film. Kim Hye Soo, who announced that this year would be her last time hosting the Blue Dragon Film Awards ceremony after doing so for 30 years, was presented the Special Achievement Award.
Text / Violet
Fukushi Sota & Matsumoto Marika in The Women in the Lakes adaptation
November 28, 2023
The Women in the Lakes is set in the wake of the murder of a 100-year-old man at a nursing home near Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. Fukushi Sota plays detective Hamanaka Keisuke who is investigating the mystery, while Matsumoto Marika portrays Toyota Kayo, a caregiver and suspect in the case. Other cast members include Asano Tadanobu as aggressive veteran detective Isami, Fukuchi Momoko as a weekly magazine reporter chasing after the truth, Zaizen Naomi as another caregiver at the nursing home, and Mita Yoshiko as the mysterious wife of the murder victim.
The Women in the Lakes will be released in Japan in May 2024.
Text / Sanwei
Wu Kang Ren & Audrey Lin win Best Actor & Actress at Golden Horse Awards
November 27, 2023
Wu Kang Ren, a regular of the Golden Bell Awards, won his first Golden Horse Best Actor for his performance as an undocumented deaf man in the Malaysian social drama Abang Adik. 12-year-old Audrey Lin made history as the youngest ever Best Actress winner for her role as a girl with ADHD in Trouble Girl.
Day Off's Beatrice Fang won Best Supporting Actress. Time Still Turns the Pages director Nick Cheuk received Best New Director while Fly Me to the Moon's Yoyo Tse won the Best New Performer award. The Mountain is Coming was recognized for Best Original Screenplay, and Marry My Dead Body for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Medical drama Eye of the Storm received two awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction. Fish Memories (Best Cinematography), Snow in Midsummer (Best Sound Effects) and The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon (Best Action Choreography) received technical prizes. "The Usual" from Day Off performed by Hung Pei Yu won Best Original Film Song.
Best Documentary went to Wang Bing's Youth, and Best Animated Feature to Chiu Liu Wei's Pigsy. Best Short Film prizes were given to Before the Box Gets Emptied (Live-Action), The Memo (Documentary) and Monsoon Blue (Animated).
Producer Lin Shih Ken was recognized as the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year. Legendary actress Brigitte Lin and cinematographer Chen Kun Hou were the recipients of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Text / Sanwei
Concrete Utopia and Moving win at 59th Grand Bell Awards
November 20, 2023
Ryoo Seung Wan was recognized as Best Director for Smugglers, while Green House's Kim Seo Hyung and Cobweb's Oh Jung Se walked away with Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor awards respectively. Best New Actor and Best New Actress went to The Childe's Kim Seon Ho and Next Sohee's Kim Si Eun. The Night Owl's Ahn Tae Jin was awarded with Best New Director, as well as Best Screenplay alongside Hyun Eun Mi.
Four new categories were added this year for TV series released on streaming platforms. Disney+ sci-fi hit Moving was named Best Series, and female lead Han Hyo Joo took home Best Actress in a Series award. Big Bet's director Kang Yoon Sung and lead Choi Min Suk received Best Director and Best Actor in a Series, respectively.
Technical prizes were awarded to Phantom (Best Music), Smugglers (Best Cinematography), Killing Romance (Best Costume Design) and The Night Owl (Best Film Editing). Soup and Ideology received the Documentary Award. Daejong's Attention Award for Work went to Ka Sung Moon's Dream Palace, for Actor to Jung Sung Hwa (Hero), and for Director to Park Jae Beom (Mother's Land: Grisha, Master of the Forest). Jang Mi Hee was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Text / Violet
Creation of the Gods I and Tony Leung win at Golden Rooster Awards
November 7, 2023
Cheng Er was named Best Director for the espionage thriller Hidden Blade, and lead Tony Leung won Best Actor. Tony Leung is now the first actor to have Best Actor trophies from the three major Chinese film awards – Golden Horse, Golden Rooster and Hong Kong Film Awards. Hidden Blade was also recognized for Best Editing. Best Actress went to Off the Stage's He Saifei, and Best Supporting Actress to Ripples of Life's Huang Miyi.
Kong Dashan's Journey to the West won Best Screenplay. Sci-fi epic Wandering Earth 2 took the Jury Prize as well as Best Sound. Technical prizes were also given to Home Coming (Best Art Direction) and Pathfinder (Best Music).
Animated historical drama Chang'an was selected as the Best Art Film. Liu Xiaoshi's aerial action film Born to Fly was named the Best Directorial Debut, while Chen Guoxing and Lhapal Gyal's Kong and Jigme was the Best Low-Budget Feature. Veteran actor Da Shichang and director Zhai Junjie were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Text / Sanwei
Lee Dong Wook & Lim Soo Jung's romcom Single in Seoul opens on November 29
October 31, 2023
Single in Seoul portrays single lives and moments that easily resonate with audiences. Influencer Young Ho (Lee Dong Wook) enjoys eating alone and doing whatever he wants without having to consider others' opinions. Hyun Jin (Lim Soo Jung) is an editor who is single but never wants to be alone. The two cross paths while working as writer and editor on the "Single in the City" essay series.
Single in Seoul will be released in Korea cinemas on November 29.
Text / Violet
Park Bo Young & Yeon Woo Jin lead Netflix medical drama Daily Dose of Sunshine
October 31, 2023
Based on the same-titled webtoon created by former psychiatric nurse Lee Ra Ha, Daily Dose of Sunshine depicts the everyday life and healing stories of staff and patients in the Department of Psychiatry. Park Bo Young stars as nurse Jung Da Eun who starts working in the psychiatric ward, while Yeon Woo Jin takes the role of Dong Go Yoon, a proctologist with an erratic personality. Jang Dong Yoon and Lee Jung Eun play Da Eun's best friend Song Yoo Chan and head nurse Song Hyo Shin of the Psychiatric Department, respectively.
Daily Dose of Sunshine is scheduled to be released on November 3 on Netflix.
Text / Violet
Japan adaptation of Zijin Chen's Bad Kids to premiere at Tokyo Film Festival
October 25, 2023
Zijin Chen's 2014 novel Bad Kids, also known as The Gone Child, was previously adapted into an acclaimed Chinese series released on iQiyi in 2020 and Japan's WOWOW in 2021. The Japanese film adaptation stars Okada Masaki as the killer, while child actors Hamura Jinsei, Hoshino Anna and Maede Yohji play the troubled kids who try to blackmail him with evidence of his crime.
Gold Boy will be released in theaters in Japan in spring 2024.
Text / Sanwei
Moving sweeps six awards at Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards
October 19, 2023
Waave's Weak Hero Class 1 and Netflix's Indian drama Scoop were named the Best OTT Original and Best Asian TV Series, respectively. Physical 100 and Let's Feast Vietnam were recognized as Best Reality & Variety shows. Best Director went to The Long Season's Xin Shuang, while the winner of Best Lead Actress was Scoop's Karishma Tanna. Taiwan Crime Stories' Hsueh Shih Ling and The Glory's Lim Ji Yeon won Best Supporting Actor and Actress.
TVING's EXchange 2 and Wavve's One Day Off received Creative Beyond Border awards. Wen Junhui and Buffy Chen were recognized as Rising Star of the Year, while Yagira Yuya walked away with the Asian Excellence Award. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to late drama producer Kim Jong Hak.
Text / Violet
Shadow Detective 2's Lee Sung Min wins Daesang at 2023 Korea Drama Awards
October 19, 2023
Revenant's Oh Jung Se and Queen of Masks' Kim Sun Ah attained the Top Excellence Actor and Actress Awards. D.P. 2's Kim Sung Kyun, Bloodhounds' Lee Sang Yi and Longing For You's Kim Ji Eun won Excellence Awards, while King The Land's Ahn Se Ha and Dr. Romantic 3's So Joo Yeon were recognized as Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Weak Hero Class 1's Park Ji Hoon and Delightfully Deceitful's Lee Yeon were named Best New Actor and Actress, respectively.
Heartbeat's Ko Kyu Pil and Celebrity's Jung Yoo Mi walked away with the Hot Star Awards. Reborn Rich's Jung Hee Tae picked up the KDF Award, while Miraculous Brothers' Bae Hyun Seong collected the Global Star Award. The Achievement Award was presented to actor Kil Yong Woo.
Text / Violet
GMMTV announces 2024 drama lineup Part 1
October 18, 2023
The only film announced is The Interest, a remake of the 2014 Korean film Man in Love. Bright Vachirat and Yaya Urassaya star in the love story about the unlikely romance between a debt collector and a debtor.
My Precious starring Nanon Korapat and Film Rachanun – GMMTV's remake of You Are the Apple of My Eye – was released as a film earlier in 2023. In 2024, the coming-of-age story will be presented in an extended version as the ten-episode My Precious The Series.
Besides The Interest and My Precious, there are three more remakes. High School Frenemy starring Sky Wongravee and Nani Hirunkit is based on the Korean series School 2013. Ossan's Love Thailand starring Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap is a BL romantic comedy based on the hit 2018 Japanese series. My Love Mix-Up! starring this year's breakout teen actors Gemini Norawit and Fourth Nattawat is a high school BL romance based on the Japanese manga and drama.
Other popular actor pairings returning with new projects include Pond Naravit and Phuwin Tangsakyuyen in the campus romance We Are, Off Jumpol and Gun Atthaphan in the workplace romance The Trainee, and Tay Tawan and ℕew Thitipoom in the horror comedy Peaceful Property. Tay and New's BL drama Cherry Magic! that was announced last year is also yet to air. New BL drama pairings that will arrive in 2024 include Joss Way-Ar and Fluke Gawin in the vampire-themed My Golden Blood, Great Sapol and Inn Sarin in Wandee Goodday, Keen Suwijak and Sea Dechchart in Only Boo!, and Ohm Pawat and Leng Thanaphon in Kidnap.
Actresses Namtan Tipnaree and Film Rachanun pair up for the girls' love series Pluto: Tales of Stars and Love. Namtan and Film are also in the coming-of-age drama Ploy's Yearbook along with Punpun Suttata, Aye Sarunchana, Jamie Juthapich, Earth Pirapat, Jimmy Jitaraphol, Joong Archen, Toy Pathompong and Mond Tanutchai. Phuwin Tangsakyuen and Dunk Natachai lead the ensemble cast for the campus youth romance Summer Night co-starring Parn Nachcha, Lookjun Bhasidi and Bimbeam Praekwan. Finally, Win Metawin will return for the second season of the supernatural thriller Enigma, with Toey Jarinporn joining the sequel.
In addition to dramas, GMMTV announced the reality show Thailand School Star 2024 for next year. Fourth, Gemini, Earn, Ford and Satang were all discovered through the previous installment of Thailand School Star in 2019.
Text / Sanwei
60th Golden Horse Film Awards nominations announced
October 4, 2023
Marry My Dead Body leads Greg Han and Austin Lin are both nominated for Best Actor alongside Chris Wu (Abang Adik), Wang Bo Chieh (Eye of the Storm) and Ethan Juan (The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon), who previously won for Monga in 2010. Best Actress nods go to Hu Ling (Carp Leaping Over Dragon's Gate), Chung Suet Ying (The Lyricist Wannabe), Lu Shao Fen (Day Off), Jennifer Yu (In Broad Daylight) and 12-year-old child actress Lin Pin Tong (Trouble Girl) who is the youngest-ever nominee for the award.
Jack Tan (Abang Adik), Sean Wong (Time Still Turns The Pages), Akio Chen (Old Fox), Fu Meng Po (Day Off) and Bowie Lam (In Broad Daylight) are nominated for Best Supporting Actor, while Eugenie Liu (Old Fox), Ivy Chen (Trouble Girl), Wan Fang (Snow in Midsummer), Beatrice Fang (Day Off) and Rachel Leung (In Broad Daylight) are nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Malaysian filmmaker Ong Lay Jin, whose Abang Adik received seven nominations in total, will compete for Best New Director against Nick Cheuk (Time Still Turns the Pages), Alan Zhang (This Woman), Sun Jie (The Mountain is Coming) and actor-turned-director Lee Hong Chi (Love is a Gun). Tan Kim Wang (Abang Adik), Hong Yu Hong (Miss Shampoo), Travis Hu (A Boy and a Girl), Tse Wing Yan (Fly Me To the Moon) and Yeh Hsiao Fei (Who'll Stop the Rain) are shortlisted for Best New Performer.
As previously announced, legendary actress Brigitte Lin and cinematographer Chen Kun Hou will be the recipients of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 60th Golden Horse Film Awards will be held on November 25 in Taipei.
Text / Sanwei
Jeon Jong Seo's Netflix revenge movie Ballerina drops on October 6
September 29, 2023
Jeon Jong Seo takes the role of Ok Ju, a former bodyguard who is adept at guns, self-defense and swordsmanship. She risks her own life to take bloody revenge on Pro Choi (Kim Ji Hoon) for her ballerina friend Min Hee (Park Yu Rim).
Ahead of its official release on Netflix, Ballerina will premiere at the 28th Busan International Film Festival on October 5.
Text / Violet
Squid Game star Lee Yoo Mi leads new K-Drama Strong Girl Nam-soon
September 29, 2023
Written by Baek Mi Kyung (Strong Girl Bong-soon) and directed by Kim Jung Sik (Work Later, Drink Now), Strong Girl Nam-soon centers around Nam Soon (Lee Yoo Mi), her mother (Kim Jung Eun) and her grandmother (Kim Hae Sook), who were all born with superhuman strength. They get involved in drug crimes that are happening Gangnam. Ong Seong Wu takes the role of a police detective investigating the drug cases, while Byeon Woo Seok plays a company CEO.
Strong Girl Nam-soon is scheduled to air its first episode on October 7.
Text / Violet
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