# 15th Asian Film Awards

The 15th Asian Film Awards was held on October 8, 2021, in Busan at Haeundae. Like 2020 edition it was staged with the 26th Busan International Film Festival in hybrid format that combines online and face-to-face participation. The award show was hosted by actress Kim Gyu-ri and broadcaster Lee Seung-guk.
In 15th edition of Asian Film Awards, 36 films from 8 Asian regions competed for 16 awards. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Wife of a Spy (2020) won the best picture award at the ceremony streamed live on YouTube and Naver.

## Nomination committee

* Edmund LEE - South China Morning Post Film Editor
* ICHIYAMA Shozo - Programming Director, Tokyo International Film Festival
* JEONG Yeong-beom - President, Star J Entertainment
* Kiki FUNG - Hong Kong International Film Festival Programme Consultant
* DAN Kyoko - Film Coordinator, Marketing Consultant
* ONDA Yasuko - Staff Writer, Yomiuri Newspaper
* SHAN Dongbing - Managing Director, Delight Consultancy
* Alex JIA - Vice President & CCO, WD Pictures
* PARK Sun-young - Busan International Film Festival Programmer for Asian Cinema

## Jury

* Lee Chang-dong as Jury President - Director and writer
* NAM Dong-chul - Busan International Film Festival Program Director, author of the Korean Film Weekly Cine 21
* Janet WU Yanyan - Director, China Film Foundation – WuTianMing Film Fund for Young Talents
* Jennifer JAO - Vice Chairman and Director, Taipei Film Commission
* ISHIZAKA Kenji - Senior Programmer, Tokyo International Film Festival
* Sabrina BARACETTI - President, Udine Far East Film Festival and Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche
* Jacob WONG - Director, Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, HKIFFS, Delegate for mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong of the Berlinale
* Briccio SANTOS - President, Film ASEAN

## Awards and nominations

Complete list of nominees:
Source Awardees:
| Best Film | Best Director |
| Wife of a Spy Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy The Disciple The Book of Fish One Second | Zhang Yimou – One Second Adhilkan Yerzhanov [ru; fr] – Yellow Cat Kiyoshi Kurosawa – Wife of a Spy Ryusuke Hamaguchi – Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy Lee Joon-ik – The Book of Fish |
| Best Actor | Best Actress |
| Yoo Ah-in – Voice of Silence as Tae-in Kōji Yakusho – Under the Open Sky as Masao Mikami Mo Tzu-yi – Dear Tenant as Lin Jian-yi Zhang Yi – One Second as fugitive Lam Ka Tung – Limbo as Brother Chin | Yū Aoi – Wife of a Spy as Satoko Fukuhara Jeon Jong-seo – The Call as Oh Young-sook Zhang Zifeng – Sister as An Ran, an older sister Chen Shu-fang – Little Big Women as Lin Xiu-ying Asel Sadvakasova [kk] – Ulbolsyn as Ulbolsyn |
| Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress |
| Kim Hyun-bin [ko] - The Silent Forest as Xiao Guang Yu Hewei - Cliff Walkers as Zhou Yi Park Jung-min - Deliver Us from Evil as Yui Tse Kwan-ho - Drifting as Master Uno Shohei [ja] - The Voice of Sin as Ikushima Soichiro | Aju Makita - True Mothers as Hikari Katakura Qin Hailu - Cliff Walkers as Wang Yu Loletta Lee - Drifting as Chan Mui Hsieh Ying-xuan - Little Big Women as Chen Wan-qing Jang Yoon-ju - Three Sisters as Mi-ok |
| Best New Director | Best Newcomer |
| Hong Eui-jeong - Voice of Silence Yūjirō Harumoto [ja] - A Balance PS Vinothraj - Pebbles Yin Ruoxi - Sister Han Shuai [ca] - Summer Blur Ahmad Bahrami [fa] - The Wasteland | Liu Haocun - One Second Gong Seung-yeon - Aloners Misaki Hattori [ja] - Midnight Swan Rouhollah Zamani - Sun Children Buffy Chen - The Silent Forest |
| Best Screenplay | Best Editing |
| Chaitanya Tamhane - The Disciple Chen Yu-hsun - My Missing Valentine You Xiaoying [zh] - Sister Hong Eui-jeong - Voice of Silence | Li Yongyi - Cliff Walkers Kim Hyung-joo - Deliver Us from Evil Lai Hsiu-hsiung - My Missing Valentine Hassan Hassandust [fa] - Sun Children Tina Baz, Shibuya Yangichi - True Mothers |
| Best Cinematography | Best Music |
| Masoud Amini Tirani [fa] - The Wasteland Yūta Tsukinaga [ja] - Any Crybabies Around? [ja] Zhao Xiaoding - Cliff Walkers Hong Kyung-pyo - Deliver Us from Evil Cheng Siu-Keung - Limbo Yerkinbek Ptyraliyev - Yellow Cat | Day Tai [zh] - The Way We Keep Dancing [zh] Jo Yeong-wook - Cliff Walkers Mowg - Deliver Us from Evil Lao Zai - One Second |
| Best Costume Design | Best Production Design |
| Valerian Spring Tree - Wife of a Spy Chen Minzheng - Cliff Walkers Cho Sang-kyung, Kwak Jung-ae - Space Sweepers Shim Hyun-seob - The Book of Fish Yermek Utegenov - Yellow Cat | Kenneth Mak - Limbo Li Miao - A Writer's Odyssey Gokuldas - Labyrinth Lee Jae-Sung - The Book of Fish Ataka Norifumi - Wife of a Spy |
| Best Visual Effects | Best Sound |
| Tim Crosbie, Joy Wu - The Eight Hundred Eric Xu, Allen Wei - A Writer's Odyssey Tomi Kuo - My Missing Valentine Issei Oda - Ora Ora, Be Going Alone Jeong Seong-jin, Jeong Chol-min - Space Sweepers | Nopawat Likitwong [pl] - Limbo Hironaka Chiyori - Any Crybabies Around? [ja] Renganaath Ravee - Labyrinth Choi Tae-young - Space Sweepers Fu Kang - The Eight Hundred |
| Excellence in Asian Cinema Award | 2020 Highest Grossing Asian Film |
| Lee Byung-hun | The Blade of Destruction: Infinite Train (Theatrical Version) |

## Films with multiple nominations

The following films received multiple nominations:
| Nominations | Films |
| 6 | Cliff Walkers |
| 5 | One Second |
| 5 | Wife of a Spy |
| 4 | The Book of Fish |
| 4 | Limbo |
| 4 | Deliver Us from Evil |
| 3 | My Missing Valentine |
| 3 | Sister |
| 3 | Space Sweepers |
| 3 | Voice of Silence |
| 3 | Yellow Cat |