Asian Film Award for Best Director

Asian Film Award for Best Director
The 2025 recipient: Daihachi Yoshida
Awarded for	Excellence in Directing in Asian Cinema
Presented by	Asian Film Awards Academy
First award	2007
Most recent winner	Daihachi Yoshida Teki Cometh (2025)
Website	afa-academy.com

Asian Film Award for Best Director is presented annually by the Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA), a non-profit organization founded by Busan International Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival and Tokyo International Film Festival with the shared goal of celebrating excellence in Asian cinema. It was first presented in 2007.

Winners and nominees

2000s

Year	Recipient(s)	English title	Original title
2007	Jia Zhangke	Still Life	三峡好人
	Hong Sang-soo	Woman on the Beach	해변의 여인
	Jafar Panahi	Offside	آفساید
	Johnnie To	Exiled	放逐
	Tsai Ming-liang	I Don't Want to Sleep Alone	黑眼圈
	Apichatpong Weerasethakul	Syndromes and a Century	อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล
2008	Lee Chang-dong	Secret Sunshine	밀양
	Peter Chan	The Warlords	投名状
	Jiang Wen	The Sun Also Rises	太阳照常升起
	Ang Lee	Lust, Caution	投名状
	Masayuki Suo	I Just Didn't Do It	それでもボクはやってない
	Zhang Lu	Desert Dream	경계
2009	Hirokazu Koreeda	Still Walking	歩いても 歩いても
	Feng Xiaogang	If You Are the One	非诚勿扰
	Kim Jee-woon	The Good, the Bad, the Weird	좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈
	Brillante Mendoza	Service	Serbis
	Hayao Miyazaki	Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea	崖の上のポニョ
	John Woo	Red Cliff	—

2010s

Year	Recipient(s)	English title	Original title
2010	Lu Chuan	City of Life and Death	南京! 南京!
	Bong Joon-ho	Mother	마더
	Asghar Farhadi	About Elly	درباره الی, Darbareye Elly
	Brillante Mendoza	Grandmother	Lola
	Sion Sono	Love Exposure	愛のむきだし
	Yonfan	Prince of Tears	淚王子
2011	Lee Chang-dong	Poetry	시
	Feng Xiaogang	Aftershock	唐山大地震
	Jiang Wen	Let the Bullets Fly	让子弹飞
	Takashi Miike	13 Assassins	十三人の刺客
	Na Hong-jin	The Yellow Sea	황해
	Tetsuya Nakashima	Confessions	告白
2012	Asghar Farhadi	A Separation	جدایی نادر از سیمین, Jodái-e Náder az Simin
	Teddy Soeriaatmadja	Lovely Man	—
	Sion Sono	Guilty of Romance	恋の罪
	Tsui Hark	Flying Swords of Dragon Gate	—
	Wei Te-sheng	Seediq Bale	賽德克·巴萊
	Zhang Yimou	The Flowers of War	金陵十三钗
2013	Takeshi Kitano	Outrage Beyond	アウトレイジ ビヨンド
	Anurag Kashyap	Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 & 2	—
	Abbas Kiarostami	Like Someone in Love	ライク・サムワン・イン・ラブ
	Kim Ki-duk	Pietà	피에타
	Lou Ye	Mystery	浮城谜事
2014	Wong Kar-wai	The Grandmaster	一代宗師
	Bong Joon-ho	Snowpiercer	설국열차
	Anthony Chen	Ilo Ilo	爸妈不在家
	Hirokazu Koreeda	Like Father, Like Son	そして父になる, Soshite Chichi ni Naru
	Tsai Ming-liang	Stray Dogs	Jiao You
2015	Ann Hui	The Golden Era	黃金時代
	Vishal Bhardwaj	Haider	—
	Lav Diaz	From What Is Before	Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon
	Hong Sang-soo	Hill of Freedom	자유의 언덕
	Lou Ye	Blind Massage	推拿
	Shinya Tsukamoto	Fires on the Plain	Nobi
2016	Hou Hsiao-hsien	The Assassin	刺客聶隱娘
	Guan Hu	Mr. Six	老炮兒
	Jia Zhangke	Mountains May Depart	山河故人
	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Our Little Sister	海街diary
	Ryoo Seung-wan	Veteran	베테랑
2017	Na Hong-jin	The Wailing	곡성
	Lav Diaz	The Woman Who Left	Ang Babaeng Humayo
	Feng Xiaogang	I Am Not Madame Bovary	我不是潘金莲
	Kōji Fukada	Harmonium	淵に立つ
	Derek Tsang	Soul Mate	七月與安生
2018
	Yuya Ishii	The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue	映画 夜空はいつでも最高密度の青色だ
	Sylvia Chang	Love Education	相愛相親
	Chen Kaige	Legend of the Demon Cat	妖猫传
	Feng Xiaogang	Youth	芳华
	Hong Sang-soo	The Day After	그 후
	Ann Hui	Our Time Will Come	明月幾時有
2019	Lee Chang-dong	Burning	버닝
	Pema Tseden	Jinpa	撞死了一只羊
	Rajkumar Hirani	Sanju
	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Shoplifters	万引き家族
	Fruit Chan	Three Husbands	三夫

2020s

Year	Recipient(s)	English title	Original title	Ref.
2020	Wang Xiaoshuai	So Long, My Son	地久天长
	Pema Tseden	Balloon	དབུགས་ལྒང་། (Tibetan); 气球 (Simplified Chinese)
	Tsai Ming-liang	Days	日子
	Bong Joon-ho	Parasite	기생충
	Chung Mong-hong	A Sun	陽光普照
	Nobuhiro Suwa	Voices in the Wind	風の電話
2021	Zhang Yimou	One Second	一秒钟
	Adhilkan Yerzhanov	Yellow Cat	—
	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Wife of a Spy	スパイの妻
	Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy	偶然と想像
	Lee Joon-ik	The Book of Fish	자산어보
2023	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Broker	브로커	[1] [2]
	Park Chan-wook	Decision to Leave	헤어질 결심
	Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Drive My Car	ドライブ・マイ・カー
	Davy Chou	Return to Seoul	Retour à Séoul
	Darezhan Omirbaev	Poet	Akyn
2024	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Monster	怪物	[3]
	Gu Xiaogang	Dwelling by the West Lake	草木人間
	Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Evil Does Not Exist	悪は存在しない
	Kim Sung-su	12.12: The Day	서울의 봄
	Prasanna Vithanage	Paradise
2025	Daihachi Yoshida	Teki Cometh	敵	[4]
	Payal Kapadia	All We Imagine as Light
	Jang Jae-hyun	Exhuma	파묘
	Guan Hu	Black Dog	狗阵
	Rithy Panh	Meeting with Pol Pot	Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot

See also

• Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Director
• Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director
• European Film Award for Best Director
• Golden Horse Award for Best Director
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
• Silver Lion

References

1. Rosser, Michael (January 6, 2023). "'Decision To Leave' leads Asian Film Awards nominations". Screen Daily . Retrieved March 16, 2025.
2. Rosser, Michael (March 12, 2023). "'Drive My Car' wins top prize at Asian Film Awards, Tony Leung takes two trophies". Screen Daily . Retrieved March 16, 2025.
3. Frater, Patrick; Ramachandran, Naman (March 10, 2024). "'Evil Does Not Exist' Wins Best Picture at Asian Film Awards". Variety . Retrieved March 16, 2025.
4. Brzeski, Patrick (March 16, 2025). "Asian Film Awards: 'All We Imagine as Light' Wins Best Picture, Yoshida Daihachi Takes Best Director for 'Teki Cometh'". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 16, 2025.

External links

• Asian Film Awards Academy