18th Asian Film Awards

The 18th Asian Film Awards was held on March 16, 2025 at Xiqu Centre in the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong. The nominations were announced on January 10, 2025.^[1][2] The 18th edition featured a selection of 30 outstanding films from 25 countries and regions, competing across 16 awards. The South Korean film Exhuma with 11 nominations is the most-nominated film this year.^[3] Actors Dean Fujioka, Aokbab Chutimon, Austin Lin, Lo Chun-yip, and Masaki Okada were appointed, with Fujioka serving as the ambassador and the others as youth ambassadors.^[4]

18th 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 10, 2025 (2025-01-10)
Presented on	March 16, 2025 (2025-03-16)
Site	Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong
Hosted by	Jason Chan Sarah Song
Official website	Asian Film Awards
Highlights
Best Picture	All We Imagine as Light
Best Actor	Sean Lau Papa
Best Actress	Shahana Goswami Santosh
Most awards	Exhuma Santosh Stranger Eyes Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2)
Most nominations	Exhuma (11)
Television coverage
Network	YouTube TVB Plus (Channel 82)
← 17th Asian Film Awards 19th →

The awards ceremony took place on March 16, 2025, at the Grand Theatre, with Jason Chan and Sarah Song as hosts. The event was broadcast live at 17:00 HKT on the YouTube channel of the Asian Film Awards Academy and TVB Plus (Channel 82).^[5] All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia won the best film award.^[6]

Events

The following events were held on 14 and 15 March leading to award ceremony:^[7]

• Stealing the Scene: The Best Supporting Actors Conversation
• Breaking Boundaries: The Next Wave of Asian Directors
• Tu Duu-chih’s Masterclass: Echoes of Light and Sound
• Bringing Stories to Life: The Art of Production Design
• Scoring the Screen: The Power of Film Music
• Pre-Awards gathering of ambassador Dean Fujioka and four youth ambassadors: Aokbab Chutimon, Austin Lin, Lo Chun-yip, and Masaki Okada. Win Metawin, a Thai star, also attended as they met fans at a special event in apm mall.
• Special screenings of three films nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the Awards:
  • All We Imagine as Light
  • Black Dog
  • Exhuma

Jury

Sammo Hung, President of jury

• Sammo Hung as Jury President – Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director.^[8]
• Sabrina Baracetti
• Roger Garcia
• Ishizaka Kenji
• Jennifer Jao
• Nam Dong-chul
• Janet Wu Yanyan

Winners and nominees

Complete list of nominees:^[9][10]

Winners are listed first and denoted in bold:^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

Best Film All We Imagine as Light ( India /  France /  Netherlands /  Luxembourg) Black Dog ( China) Exhuma ( South Korea) Teki Cometh ( Japan) Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In ( Hong Kong)	Best Director Daihachi Yoshida – Teki Cometh Payal Kapadia – All We Imagine as Light Guan Hu – Black Dog Jang Jae-hyun – Exhuma Rithy Panh – Meeting with Pol Pot
Best Actor Sean Lau – Papa Eddie Peng – Black Dog Choi Min-sik – Exhuma Kyōzō Nagatsuka – Teki Cometh Michael Hui – The Last Dance	Best Actress Shahana Goswami – Santosh Kani Kusruti – All We Imagine as Light Sylvia Chang – Daughter's Daughter Yuumi Kawai – Desert of Namibia Kim Go-eun – Exhuma
Best Supporting Actor Lee Kang-sheng – Stranger Eyes Ken Mitsuishi – All the Long Nights Sosuke Ikematsu – My Sunshine Chu Pak Hong – The Last Dance / Philip Ng – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In	Best Supporting Actress Yang Kuei-mei – Yen and Ai-Lee Maggie Li Lin Lin – All Shall Be Well Divya Prabha – All We Imagine as Light Lim Ji-yeon – Revolver Kumi Takiuchi – Teki Cometh
Best New Director / Sandhya Suri – Santosh Yoko Yamanaka – Desert of Namibia / Neo Sora – Happyend Dong Zijian – My Friend An Delie Minh Quý Trương – Viet and Nam	Best Newcomer Hayato Kurihara – Happyend Lee Do-hyun – Exhuma Putthipong Assaratanakul – How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies Dylan So – Papa Đào Duy Bảo Định – Viet and Nam
Best Screenplay The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Mohammad Rasoulof All the Long Nights – Kiyoto Wada and Sho Miyake All We Imagine as Light – Payal Kapadia Exhuma – Jang Jae-hyun Meeting with Pol Pot – Rithy Panh and Pierre-Erwan Guillaume	Best Editing Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Cheung Ka-fai All We Imagine as Light – Clément Pinteaux Meeting with Pol Pot – Rithy Panh and Matthieu Laclau My Friend An Delie – William Chang Suk-ping Papa – Jojo Shek
Best Cinematography Harbin – Hong Kyung-pyo My Friend An Delie – Lu Songye Shambhala – Aziz Zhambakiyiv Teki Cometh – Hidetoshi Shinomiya Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Cheng Siu-keung	Best Original Music The Last Dance – Chu Wan Pin All the Long Nights – Hi'Spec The Box Man – Michiaki Katsumoto Exhuma – Kim Tae-seong Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Kenji Kawai
Best Costume Design Exhuma – Choi Yoon-sun A Tapestry of a Legendary Land – Yang Donglin Shambhala – Dorjee Dradhul Gurung Teki Cometh – Miyamoto Mari Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Bruce Yu, Karen Yip	Best Production Design Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Kenneth Mak, Chau Sai Hung Ambrose Black Dog – Huo Tingxiao, Li Chang Don't Cry, Butterfly – Pham Phong Lan Exhuma – Seo Sung-kyung The Box Man – Hayashida Yuji
Best Visual Effects Exhuma – Kim Shin-chul, Daniel Son Black Dog – Danny Yin Black Ox – Sato Fumiro, Kobari Yasuhiro Dead Talents Society – Tomi Kuo, Chiu Chun-Yi Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Lin Chun Yue Jules, Ma Siu Fu, Garrett K Lam, Yee Kwok Leung	Best Sound Stranger Eyes – Tu Duu-chih, Tu Tse-Kang Cadet – Zurab Kurmanbayev Exhuma – Kim Byung-in Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Yiu Chun Hin, Cheung Man Hoi, To Burnard Davy Viet and Nam – Vincent Villa
Lifetime Achievement Award Koji Yakusho	Excellence in Asian Cinema Award Tang Wei Jang Dong-gun
Next Generation Award Wu Kang-ren	Rising Star of Asia Award Kōki

Films with multiple nominations

Films with multiple nominations

Nominations	Film
11	Exhuma
9	Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
6	All We Imagine as Light
	Teki Cometh
5	Black Dog
3	All the Long Nights
	The Last Dance
	Meeting with Pol Pot
	My Friend An Delie
	Papa
	Viet and Nam
2	The Box Man
	Desert of Namibia
	Santosh
	Shambhala
	Stranger Eyes