Korean film master Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave leads the nominations for the 16th Asian Film Awards with ten nominations including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. Coming in a close second is the Japanese film, Drive My Car which received eight nominations.

Indian film Ponniyin Selvan: I was also nominated for Best Film and five behind-the-scenes awards. Darezhan Omirbayev’s Poet and Lav Diaz’s When the Waves Are Gone are also in the tight race for winning the highest honor of Best Film.

After relocating to Busan, South Korea for the past two years, the Asian Film Awards will return to Hong Kong this year, and the ceremony will be held for the first time at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Auditorium in the Hong Kong Palace Museum, West Kowloon, on 12th March 2023.

In total, 30 films from 22 regions and countries have been shortlisted for 81 nominations to compete for 16 awards at the 16th Asian Film Awards. The prestigious line up of nominees from around Asia includes five Hong Kong films including Where the Wind Blows, Anita, A Light Never Goes Out, Warriors of Future and The Sparring Partner.

The Academy appointed the internationally acclaimed director Zhang Yimou as president of this year’s jury. Zhang said: “Asian cinema is now on the road that combines artistic factors and commercial, aiming for movies that can be appreciated by a wider community. Zhang won the Asian Film Awards’ Best Director Honourable in 2021.

Five distinctive Asian films from different regions, including Decisions to Leave (South Korea), Drive My Car (Japan), Poet (Kazakhstan), Ponniyin Selvan: Part I (India) and When the Waves Are Gone (The Philippines, France, Portugal, Denmark), are in the tight race for winning the highest honor of Best Film in the 16th Asian Film Awards.

For Hong Kong films, a total of five films were nominated for different awards. Among them, Hong Kong’s epic crime biopic Where the Wind Blows was nominated for three awards, including Tony Leung Chiu Wai for Best Actor, Michael Hui Koon Man for Best Supporting Actor, Bill Lui and Andrew Wong for Best Art Direction. Tony Leung Chiu Wai had been nominated twice for Best Actor at the Asian Film Awards and was awarded the prize for his phenomenal performance in Lust, Caution.

Complete list of nominees for the 16th Asian Film Awards

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