‘Evil Does Not Exist’ Wins Best Picture at Asian Film Awards Mar 10, 2024 7:27am PT By Patrick Frater, Naman Ramachandran Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” was Sunday evening named as the best picture at the Asian Film Awards. The 17th edition of the prizes was held at the Xiqu Centre, part of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong. While “Evil Does Not Exist” and Korean blockbuster “12.12: The Day” had dominated the nominations with six each, including those in the best film category, the prizes on Sunday were much more evenly distributed. No title collected more than two prizes. Outside, crowds failed to be muted by the March drizzle, though VIP guests were given escorts with purple umbrellas. Filmmaker and industry attendance was also robust. Those spotted on the red carpet and pre-event cocktails included: Lee Yong Kwan (former chair of the Busan film festival), Tom Yoda, Udine festival heads Sabrina Baracetti and Thomas Bertacche, Anthony Chen, Stanley Kwan, Rina Damayanti, Hong Kong distributor Winnie Tsang, Andrew Lau, Mabel Cheung. Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing made an unannounced appearance on stage to present the best actor award — which she correctly described as the most competitive — to Yakusho Koji, who won the same award in Cannes last year for the Wim Wenders-directed “Perfect Days.” The AFAs kicked off a month of frantic film activity in Hong Kong. They preceded 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 WINNERS Best Film “12.12: The Day” (South Korea) WINNER: “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) WINNER: 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) WINNER: 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) WINNER: YAKUSHO Koji in “Perfect Days” (Japan) Tony LEUNG Chiu Wai in “The Goldfinger” (Hong Kong, China) Best Actress WINNER: 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 WINNER: 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) WINNER: 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 WINNER: 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) WINNER: Pema Tseden for “Snow Leopard” (China) Best Editing WINNER: 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) WINNER: Matthias DELVAUX for “Snow Leopard” (China) Best Original Music UMEBAYASHI Shigeru for “Dwelling by the West Lake” (China) WINNER: 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) Winner: 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) WINNER: 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) Winner: 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) WINNER: 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). AFA Next Generation Award WINNER: ZHAO Liying, actor (China) Excellence in Asian Cinema LEE Young-ae, actor (Korea) and SUZUKI Ryuhei, actor (Japan) Asia Rising Star Award: Win Metawin, actor (Thailand) Highest Grossing Asian Film: “Full River Red” dir. ZHANG Yimou (China) Lifetime Achievement Award: ZHANG Yimou, director (China) https://variety.com/2024/film/asia/asian-film-awards-evil-does-not-exist-winner-1235936522/ -------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Film Awards: Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ Wins Best Film, Hirokazu Kore-eda Takes Best Director For ‘Monster’ By Zac Ntim Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won Best Film at the Asian Film Awards (AFAs) this evening in Hong Kong. Scroll down for the full list of winners. This is the second year running that a film helmed by Hamaguchi has picked up the award. He won the top prize last year with Drive My Car. This year, however, the director was not in attendance to accept the award due to what he described as “work commitments” in a video message played at the top of the ceremony. Evil Does Not Exist, which also picked up an award for original music, debuted at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. The film 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. Related Stories Hirokazu Kore-eda On His Next Project, A Samurai-Focused Streaming Series & Why Japan's Film Industry Is In Danger: "Staff Are Not Making A Living" Zhang Yimou To Receive Two Career Honors At The Asian Film Awards Another Japanese filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-eda, took best director for his last feature Monster. This is the third time Kore-eda has taken home the awards body’s top directing honor. The Hamaguchi-Kore-eda leading double is an identical replica of last year’s honors and further solidifies Japan’s dominance at the AFAs. Best actress went to Chinese actress Jiang Qinqin for her role in Dwelling by the West Lake, while Japanese actor Yakusho Koji took best actor for his leading role in Wim Wender’s Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days. Elsewhere, veteran Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou received both the Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2023 Highest-Grossing Asian Film Award for his last feature Full River Red. The noms on the eve had been led by Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist and the period action pic 12.12: The Day, from Korea, which both had six nods, including Best Film and Best Director. The awards were held at the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong. Now in its 17th year, the Asian Film Awards have previously been held in Korea and Macau. Full winners list: Best Film Evil Does Not Exist Best Director Kore-eda Hirokazu — Monster Best Actor Yakusho Koji — Perfect Days Best Actress Jiang Qinqin — Dwelling by the West Lake Best Supporting Actor Park Hoon — 12.12: The Day Best Supporting Actress Rachel Leung — In Broad Daylight Best New Director Nick Cheuk — Time Still Turns the Pages Best Newcomer Tergel Bold-Erdene — City of Wind Best Screenplay Pema Tseden — Snow Leopard Best Editing Kim Sang-bum — 12.12: The Day Best Cinematography Matthias Delvaux — Snow Leopard Best Original Music Ishibashi Eiko — Evil Does Not Exist Best Costume Design Man Lim Chung — The Goldfinger Best Production Design Eric Lam — The Goldfinger Best Visual Effects Yamazaki Takashi — Godzilla Minus One Best Sound Inoue Natsuko — Godzilla Minus One https://deadline.com/2024/03/asian-film-awards-ryusuke-hamaguchi-evil-does-not-exist-best-film-hirokazu-kore-eda-best-director-monster-2024-1235852065/