The Day’ & Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ Lead Nominations…

Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, and the period action pic 12.12: The Day, from Korea, lead the nominations at this year’s Asian Film Awards.

Both films received six nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. Directed by Kim Sung-soo, whose credits include Asura: The City Of Madness and The Flu, 12.12: The Day is set against the backdrop of the real-life military coup of 1979, which resulted in an eight-year military junta in South Korea. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Jung Woo-sung (Asura: The City Of Madness), and Lee Sung-min (The Spy Gone North). Released on November 22, the film sailed past the 12 million admissions mark at the Korean box office over the Christmas holiday period, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 in the market.

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Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist — which debuted out of Venice — 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. The feature is his first feature-length work since the Oscar-winning Drive My Car.

Elsewhere, Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-based drama Perfect Days clocked noms in Best Film and Best Actor for Yakusho Koji while Hirokazu Koreeda pops up in Best Director for his Cannes competition pic Monster.

The 2024 prize winners will be decided by a jury headed by filmmaker Kurosawa Kiyoshi, the first Japanese filmmaker to preside over the Film Awards jury.

“I am very privileged to be given this prestigious role. Asia is a treasure trove of films. I believe this comes from the rich diversity that exists among the various realities, stories, and people of this region,” he said. “I look forward to discovering the richness of the totally unique films that no one has seen before at this year’s Asian Film Awards.”

Check out the full nominations list below:

Best Film

12.12: The Day
Evil Does Not Exist
Paradise
Perfect Days
Snow Leopard

Best Director

Kim Sung-soo — 12.12: The Day
Gu Xiaogang — Dwelling by the West Lake
Hamaguchi Ryusuke — Evil Does Not Exist
Kore-eda Hirokazu — Monster
Prasanna Vithanage — Paradise

Best Actor

Hwang Jung-min — 12.12: The Day
Wu Kang-Ren — Abang Adik
Shen Teng — Full River Red
Yakusho Koji — Perfect Days
Tong Leung Chiu Wai — The Goldfinger

Best Actress

Jiang Qinqin — Dwelling by the West Lake
Jung Yu-mi — Sleep
Zhou Dongyu — The Breaking Ice
Audrey Lin — Trouble Girl
Rinko Kikuchi — YOKO

Best Supporting Actor

Park Hoon — 12.12: The Day
Jack Tan — Abang Adik
Nakamura Shido — Kubi
Park Jung-min — Smugglers
Sean Wong — Time Still Turns the Pages

Best Supporting Actress

Hamabe Minami — Godzilla Minus One
Rachel Leung — In Broad Daylight
Tsutsui Mariko — Last Shadow at First Light
Go Min-si — Smugglers
Wan Fang — Snow in Midsummer

Best New Director

Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir — City of Wind
Pham Thien An — Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Dominic Sangma — Rapture
Amanda Nell Eu — Tiger Stripes
Nick Cheuk — Time Still Turns the Pages

Best Newcomer

Tergel Bold-Erdene — City of Wind
Awat Ratanapintha — Doi Boy
Yoyo Tse — Fly Me to the Moon
Wang Yibo — Hidden Blade
Shirata Mihaya — Last Shadow at First Light

Best Screenplay

Hamaguchi Ryusuke — Evil Does Not Exist
Sakamoto Yuji — Monster
Prasanna Vithanage, Anushka Senanayake — Paradise
Jason Yu — Sleep
Pema Tseden — Snow Leopard

Best Editing

Kim Sang-bum — 12.12: The Day
Hamaguchi Ryusuke, Yamazaki Azusa — Evil Does Not Exist
Matthieu Laclau — Only the River Flows
A. Sreekar Prasad — Paradise
Nick Cheuk, Keith Chan Hiu Chun — Time Still Turns the Pages

Best Cinematography

Lee Mo-gae — 12.12: The Day
Kitagawa Yoshio — Evil Does Not Exist
Chengma Zhiyuan — Only the River Flows
Azamat Dulatov — Qas
Matthias Delvaux — Snow Leopard

Best Original Music

Umebayashi Shigeru — Dwelling by the West Lake
Ishibashi Eiko — Evil Does Not Exist
Akmaral Mergen — Qas
Anon Ch Momin — Rapture
Lee Dong-june — Road to Boston

Best Costume Design

Tim Yip — Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms
Kurosawa Kazuko — Kubi
Yoon Jung-hee — Smugglers
Elaine Ng — Snow in Midsummer
Man Lim Chung — The Goldfinger

Best Production Design

Cho Hwa-sung — Concrete Utopia
Mitsumatsu Keiko — Monster
Zhang Menglun — Only the River Flows
Daktse Drundrup — Snow Leopard
Eric Lam — The Goldfinger

Best Visual Effects

Eun Jae-hyun — Concrete Utopia
Douglas Hans Smith — Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms
Yamazaki Takashi, Shibuya Kiyoko, Takahashi Masaki, Nojima Tatsuji — Godzilla Minus One
Jin Jong-hyun — The Moon
Allen Wei, Ahdee Chiu, Ding Yanlai, Eric Xu — The Wandering Earth II