16th Asian Film Awards

The 16th Asian Film Awards was held on March 12, 2023 at Hong Kong Jockey Club Auditorium in Hong Kong Palace Museum. The nominations were announced on January 6, 2023.^[1] At the 16th edition of the awards ceremony, 30 films from 22 regions and countries were shortlisted for 81 nominations.^[2] South Korean film Decision to Leave received 10 nominations most for any film whereas Drive My Car with eight nominations was second.^[3]

16th Asian Film Awards
Teaser poster
Awarded for	Excellence in Asian cinema
Awarded by	Hong Kong International Film Festival Busan International Film Festival Tokyo International Film Festival
Presented by	The Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA)
Announced on	Nominations: January 6, 2023 (2023-01-06)
Presented on	March 12, 2023 (2023-03-12)
Site	Hong Kong Jockey Club Auditorium, West Kowloon, Hong Kong
Hosted by	Grace Chan Sammy Leung
Official website	Asian Film Awards
Highlights
Best Picture	Drive My Car
Excellence in Asian Cinema Award	Hiroshi Abe
Best Direction	Hirokazu Kore-eda for Broker
Best Actor	Tony Leung Chiu-wai Where the Wind Blows
Best Actress	Tang Wei Decision to Leave
Best Supporting Actor	Hio Miyazawa Egoists
Best Supporting Actress	Kim So-jin Emergency Declaration
Lifetime achievement	Sammo Hung
Most awards	Decision to Leave and Drive My Car – 3
Most nominations	Decision to Leave – 10
Television coverage
Network	YouTube
Duration	5 hours 16 minutes
← 15th Asian Film Awards 17th →

Lin Min Chen, a Malaysian Chinese singer, actor and model was appointed as Youth Ambassador of the film awards.^[4]

The award ceremony hosted by Grace Chan and Sammy Leung was held on 12 March 2023, where international actors and celebrities from Hong Kong walked the red carpet. Hiroshi Abe, Japanese model and actor, was presented with Excellence in Asian Cinema Award and 'Red Carpet Best Dressed Award', whereas AFA Next Generation Award was presented to Ji Chang-wook a South Korean actor and singer.^[5][6] Later, Sammo Hung, a martial arts veteran from Hong Kong was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award,^[7] and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, a Hong Kong actor and singer, was presented with Asian Film Contribution Award for his contribution to the Asian cinema and the best actor award for his performance in Where the Wind Blows. Drive My Car by Ryusuke Hamaguchi won the best film award and best direction was awarded to Hirokazu Kore-eda for Broker, whereas Tang Wei's performance in Decision to Leave got her the best actress award.^[8][9]

The ceremony was aired live on YouTube channel of Asian Film Awards Academy.^[10]

Events

Asian Film Awards Academy is holding an exhibition to celebrate 15 Years of excellence of Asian Film Awards from 5 to 11 March, 2023 at Harbour City’s Ocean Terminal Main Concourse. It is a pre-event leading to the film awards ceremony. Vivian Sung, a Taiwanese actress and Lin Min Chen, a Malaysian Chinese singer, actor and AFA Youth Ambassador are invited on 11 March to interact with fans.^[11]

Japanese traditional martial arts dance group 'ORIENTARHYTHM' and talented pianist Niu Niu [zh] performed on stage during the ceremony.^[12]

Red Carpet Best Dressed Award

An award known as 'Best Dressed Award' is launched from this year ceremony. The award consists of a trophy designed by Hong Kong production and costume designer, William Chang and The Sail Melaka X iPANDAS Memorigin Tourbillon watch.^[13] Hiroshi Abe became the first recipient of the award.^[6]

Red Carpet Best Dressed Award Jury:

• Hun Kim, Designer Director of Karl Lagerfeld
• William Chang, Oscar-nominated and renowned HK Art Director
• Winnie Wan, editor-in-chief of Elle Hong Kong
• Michele Reis, renowned artist & co-creator of M Sail Tower
• Dato’ Leong Sir Ley, Founder & Chairman of Sheng Tai International

Jury

Zhang Yimou, President of jury

• Zhang Yimou as Jury President - film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer^[14]

Awards and nominations

Hirokazu Kore-eda, winner of Best Director Award

Hiroshi Abe, winner of Excellence in Asian Cinema and Best Dressed Awards

Sammo Hung, Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

Ji Chang-wook, AFA Next Generation Award recipient

Tony Leung Chiu-wai, winner of Best Actor Award

Tang Wei, winner of Best Actress Award

Complete list of nominees:^[15]

Winners are listed first and denoted in bold:^[16][9]

Best Film	Best Director
Drive My Car Decision to Leave Ponniyin Selvan: I Poet When the Waves Are Gone	Hirokazu Kore-eda – Broker Ryusuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave Darezhan Omirbaev – Poet Davy Chou – Return to Seoul
Best Actor	Best Actress
Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Where the Wind Blows as Nam Kong Park Hae-il – Decision to Leave as Jang Hae-jun Hidetoshi Nishijima – Drive My Car as Yūsuke Kafuku Ryohei Suzuki – Egoist as Kōsuke Zhang Yi – Home Coming as Zong Dawei Mohsen Tanabandeh – World War III as Shakib	Tang Wei – Decision to Leave as Song Seo-rae Sylvia Chang – A Light Never Goes Out as Mei-heung Karena Lam – American Girl as Wang Li-li Happy Salma – Before, Now & Then as Nana Chieko Baisho – Plan 75 as Mishi Kakutani
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Hio Miyazawa – Egoist as Ryūta Masaki Okada - – Drive My Car as Kōji Takatsuki Kafuku Im Si-wan – Emergency Declaration as Ryu Jin-seok Oh Kwang-rok – Return to Seoul as Freddie's biological father Michael Hui – Where the Wind Blows as George Lee	Kim So-jin – Emergency Declaration as Kim Hee-jin Sakura Ando – A Man as Rie Taniguchi Laura Basuki – Before, Now & Then as Ino Yin Tao – Home Coming as Bai Hua Yuumi Kawai – Plan 75 as Yoko Narimiya
Best New Director	Best Newcomer
Jigme Trinley – One and Four Makbul Mubarak - Autobiography Saim Sadiq - Joyland Chie Hayakawa – Plan 75 Kim Se-in – The Apartment with Two Women	Mak Pui Tung – The Sparring Partner as Angus Tong Lee Ji-eun – Broker as Moon So-young Louise Wong - Anita as Anita Mui Yang En You – Lighting Up the Stars as Wu Xiao Wen Park Ji-min – Return to Seoul as Frédérique "Freddie" Benoît
Best Screenplay	Best Editing
Chung Seo-kyung, Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave Makbul Mubarak - Autobiography Ryusuke Hamaguchi, OE Takamasa – Drive My Car Liu Jiangjiang, Yu Min – Lighting Up the Stars as Wu Xiao Wen Lav Diaz – When the Waves Are Gone	Azusa Yamazaki – Drive My Car Kim Sang-bum – Decision to Leave A. Sreekar Prasad – Ponniyin Selvan: I Zhu Lin, Wei Yong, Gao Qiongjiali – Lighting Up the Stars Dounia Sichov [fr] – Return to Seoul
Best Cinematography	Best Music
Lu Songye – One and Four Batara Goempar – Before, Now & Then Kim Ji-yong – Decision to Leave Hideho Urata – Plan 75 Ravi Varman – Ponniyin Selvan: I	Eiko Ishibashi – Drive My Car Jo Yeong-wook – Decision to Leave A. R. Rahman – Ponniyin Selvan: I Jérémie Arcache, Christophe Musset – Return to Seoul Bahman Ghobadi, Vedat Yildirim The Four Walls
Best Costume Design	Best Production Design
Karen Yip, Dora NG - Anita Ryu Hyun-min, Oh Jung-geun – Alienoid Retno Ratih Damayanti – Before, Now & Then Shinozuka Nami - Egoist Eka Lakhani – Ponniyin Selvan: I	Ryu Seong-hie – Decision to Leave Vida Sylvia Theresia – Before, Now & Then Li Miao – Home Coming Thota Tharani – Ponniyin Selvan: I Bill Lui, Andrew Wong – Where the Wind Blows
Best Visual Effects	Best Sound
Chas Chau, Leung Wai Kit, Kwok Tai – Warriors of Future Jung Seung-oh – Alienoid Zhang Fan – Moon Man V. Srinivas Mohan – RRR Atsuki Sato – Shin Ultraman	Tu Duu-Chih - Anita Kim Suk-won – Decision to Leave Nomura Miki, Obo Tatsuya – Drive My Car Vincent Villa – Return to Seoul Ashwin Rajashekar – RRR
Excellence in Asian Cinema Award	Lifetime Achievement Award
Hiroshi Abe	Sammo Hung
AFA Next Generation Award	Asian Film Contribution Award
Ji Chang-wook	Tony Leung Chiu-wai

Films with multiple nominations

The following films received multiple nominations:^[17][18]

Nominations	Films
10	Decision to Leave
8	Drive My Car
6	Ponniyin Selvan: I
	Return to Seoul
5	Before, Now & Then
3	Where the Wind Blows
	Egoist
	Home Coming
	Plan 75
	Lighting Up the Stars
2	RRR
	Autobiography
	Poet
	When the Waves Are Gone
	Emergency Declaration
	Alienoid