“I Am Not Madame Bovary” snatches top prize at Asian Film Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - The 11 running of the Asian Film Awards was a strong night for South Korean films. But Chinese contemporary drama “I Am Not Madame Bovary” snatched the best film award and the best actress prize, Variety said.

Superstar Fan Bingbing, was required to prove her acting chops in the the demanding role, and in a piece of counter-intuitive casting she had to ditch her glamorous persona in favor a dowdy peasant costume.

Going into the ceremony, the hot favorites had been Park Chan-wook’s “The Handmaiden,” with six nominations, and Feng Xiaogang’s “Bovary.”

On the night, “Bovary” and Park Chan-wook’s “The Handmaiden” each collected three awards. Korea’s Na Hong-jin was named best director for “The Wailing,” while the country’s Oscars contender “The Age of Shadows” also collected one honor.

The AFAs returned to Hong Kong after a couple of years excursion to nearby Macau. They were held in the Grand Auditorium of the HK Cultural Centre on the Kowloon waterfront.

Actress Jelly Lin (aka Lin Yun) was on hand to receive the rising star of the year award. Having made her big screen debut in all time box office record breaker “The Mermaid” in 2016, she has since gone on to star in “L.O.R.D. Legend of Ravaging Dynasties” and in January starred in another blockbuster Stephen Chow and Tsui Hark’s “Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back.”

Tsui, who built his career in Hong Kong, but is now a major fixture in mainland China, received a lifetime achievement award and a big hand.

Asian Film Awards 2017 Winners

Best Film: “I Am Not Madame Bovary”

Best Actress: Fan Bingbing (“I Am Not Madame Bovary”)

Best actor: Asano Tadanobu (“Harmonium”)

Best director: Na Hong-jin (“The Wailing”)

Best supporting actress: Moon So-ri (“The Handmaiden”)

Best supporting actor: Lam Suet (“Trivisa”)

Best editing: Lee Chatametikool and Natalie Soh (“Apprentice”)

Best production design: Ryu Seong-hie (“The Handmaiden”)

Best costume design: Cho Sang-kyung (“The Handmaiden”)

Best sound: Fang Tao and Hao Zhiyu (“Crosscurrent”)

Best original music: Mowg (“The Age of Shadows”)

Best visual effects: Ohya Tetsuo (“Shin Godzilla”)

Best cinematography: Luo Pan (“I Am Not Madame Bovary”)

Rising star of Asia: Jelly Lin

Excellence in Asian cinema award: Sammi Cheng

Lifetime achievement award: Tsui Hark.