Asian Film Award for Best Film

Asian Film Award for Best Film
The 2025 recipient: All We Imagine as Light
Awarded for	Best Asian Film of the Year
Presented by	Asian Film Awards Academy
First award	2007
Most recent winner	All We Imagine as Light (2025)
Website	afa-academy.com

Asian Film Award for Best Film 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.

History

It was first presented in 2007 during the first edition of the awards. South Korean monster film The Host , directed by Bong Joon Ho was the first recipient of the award. The most recent winner is All We Imagine as Light , an international co-production between India, France, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, directed by Payal Kapadia.

Japan and China both hold the record of most wins in the category, with five wins each, followed by South Korea with four and Hong Kong with two. Additionally, South Korean director Bong Joon Ho was the most award-winning films in the category with three of his film receiving the award: The Host (2007), Mother (2010) and Parasite (2020).

Winners and nominees

2000s

Year	English title	Original title	Director(s)	Country	Ref.
2007	The Host	괴물	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea	[1] [2]
	Curse of the Golden Flower	满城尽带黄金甲	Zhang Yimou	China  Hong Kong
	Exiled	放·逐	Johnnie To	Hong Kong
	Love and Honor	武士の一分	Yoji Yamada	Japan
	Requiem from Java	Opera Jawa	Garin Nugroho	Indonesia
	Still Life	三峡好人	Jia Zhangke	China
2008	Secret Sunshine	밀양	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea	[3] [4]
	Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame	بودا از شرم فرو ریخت	Hana Makhmalbaf	Iran
	I Just Didn't Do It	それでもボクはやってない	Masayuki Suo	Japan
	Lust, Caution	色，戒	Ang Lee	Taiwan  China
	The Sun Also Rises	太阳照常升起	Jiang Wen	China  Hong Kong
	The Warlords	投名状	Peter Chan	China  Hong Kong
2009	Tokyo Sonata	トウキョウソナタ	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan	[5] [6]
	Forever Enthralled	梅兰芳	Chen Kaige	China
	The Good, the Bad, the Weird	좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
	Ponyo	崖の上のポニョ	Hayao Miyazaki	Japan
	The Rainbow Troops	Laskar Pelangi	Riri Riza	Indonesia
	Red Cliff	赤壁	John Woo	China

2010s

Year	English title	Original title	Director(s)	Country	Ref.
2010	Mother	마더	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea	[7] [8]
	Bodyguards and Assassins	十月圍城	Teddy Chan	Hong Kong
	Cannot Live Without You	不能没有你	Leon Dai	Taiwan
	City of Life and Death	南京! 南京!	Lu Chuan	China
	Grandmother	Lola	Brillante Mendoza	Philippines
	Parade	パレード	Isao Yukisada	Japan
2011	Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives	ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ	Apichatpong Weerasethakul	Thailand	[9] [10]
	Aftershock	唐山大地震	Feng Xiaogang	China
	Confessions	告白	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
	Let the Bullets Fly	让子弹飞	Jiang Wen	China  Hong Kong
	Peepli Live	पीपली लाइव	Anusha Rizvi	India
	Poetry	시	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
2012	A Separation	جدایی نادر از سیمین	Asghar Farhadi	Iran	[11] [12]
	The Flowers of War	金陵十三钗	Zhang Yimou	China
	Flying Swords of Dragon Gate	龍門飛甲	Tsui Hark	China  Hong Kong
	Postcard	一枚のハガキ	Kaneto Shindo	Japan
	Seediq Bale	賽德克·巴萊	Wei Te-sheng	Taiwan
	You Don't Live Twice	Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara	Zoya Akhtar	India
2013	Mystery	浮城谜事	Lou Ye	China	[13]
	Drug War	毒戰	Johnnie To	China  Hong Kong
	Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 & 2	गैंग्स ऑफ़ वासेपुर-भाग	Anurag Kashyap	India
	Outrage Beyond	アウトレイジ ビヨンド	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
	Pietà	피에타	Kim Ki-duk	South Korea
2014	The Grandmaster	一代宗師	Wong Kar-wai	Hong Kong  China	[14]
	The Great Passage	舟を編む	Yuya Ishii	Japan
	The Lunchbox	द लंच बॉक्स	Ritesh Batra	India
	No Man's Land	无人区	Ning Hao	China
	Snowpiercer	설국열차	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
	Stray Dogs	郊遊	Tsai Ming-liang	Taiwan  France
2015	Blind Massage	推拿	Lou Ye	China	[15]
	Black Coal, Thin Ice	白日焰火	Diao Yinan	China
	Haider	हैदर	Vishal Bhardwaj	India
	Hill of Freedom	자유의 언덕	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
	Ode to My Father	국제시장	Yoon Je-kyoon	South Korea
	The Light Shines Only There	そこのみにて光輝く	Mipo O	Japan
2016	The Assassin	刺客聶隱娘	Hou Hsiao-hsien	Taiwan  China  Hong Kong	[16] [17]
	Bajirao Mastani	बाजीराव मस्तानी	Sanjay Leela Bhansali	India
	Mountains May Depart	山河故人	Jia Zhangke	China  France  Japan
	Mr. Six	老炮儿	Guan Hu	China
	Three Stories of Love	恋人たち	Ryōsuke Hashiguchi	Japan
	Veteran	베테랑	Ryoo Seung-wan	South Korea
2017	I Am Not Madame Bovary	我不是潘金莲	Feng Xiaogang	China	[18] [19]
	The Age of Shadows	밀정	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
	Godspeed	一路順風	Chung Mong-hong	Taiwan
	Harmonium	淵に立つ	Kōji Fukada	Japan
	The Wailing	곡성	Na Hong-jin	South Korea
2018	Youth	芳华	Feng Xiaogang	China	[20] [21]
	Angels Wear White	嘉年华	Vivian Qu	China  France
	The Day After	그 후	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
	Newton	न्यूटन	Amit V Masurkar	India
	The Third Murder	三度目の殺人	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
2019	Shoplifters	万引き家族	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan	[22] [23]
	Burning	버닝	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
	Dying to Survive	我不是藥神	Wen Muye	China
	Jinpa	撞死了一只羊	Pema Tseden	China
	Sanju		Rajkumar Hirani	India

2020s

Year	English title	Original title	Director(s)	Country	Ref.
2020	Parasite	기생충	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea	[24] [25]
	Listen to the Universe	蜜蜂と遠雷	Kei Ishikawa	Japan
	So Long, My Son	地久天长	Wang Xiaoshuai	China
	A Sun	陽光普照	Chung Mong-hong	Taiwan
	Thappad		Anubhav Sinha	India
	There Is No Evil	شیطان وجود ندارد	Mohammad Rasoulof	Iran
2021	Wife of a Spy	スパイの妻	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan	[26] [27]
	Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy	偶然と想像	Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Japan
	The Disciple		Chaitanya Tamhane	India
	The Book of Fish	자산어보	Lee Joon-ik	South Korea
	One Second	一秒钟	Zhang Yimou	China
2023	Drive My Car	ドライブ・マイ・カー	Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Japan	[28] [29]
	Decision to Leave	헤어질 결심	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
	Ponniyin Selvan: I	பொன்னியின் செல்வன்	Mani Ratnam	India
	When the Waves Are Gone	Kapag Wala Nang Mga Alon	Lav Diaz	Philippines
	Poet	Akyn	Darezhan Omirbaev	Kazakhstan
2024	Evil Does Not Exist	悪は存在しない	Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Japan	[30]
	12.12: The Day	서울의 봄	Kim Sung-su	South Korea
	Paradise		Prasanna Vithanage	Sri Lanka  India
	Perfect Days		Wim Wenders	Japan  Germany
	Snow Leopard	雪豹	Pema Tseden	China
2025	All We Imagine as Light		Payal Kapadia	India  France  Netherlands  Luxembourg	[31]
	Exhuma	파묘	Jang Jae-hyun	South Korea
	Teki Cometh	敵	Daihachi Yoshida	Japan
	Black Dog	狗阵	Guan Hu	China
	Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In	九龍城寨之圍城	Soi Cheang	Hong Kong

References

1. Frater, Patrick (January 29, 2007). "Hong Kong to host new Asian awards". Variety . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
2. Tsui, Clarence (March 21, 2007). "South Korean film scoops inaugural awards". South China Morning Post . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
3. Chu, Karen (January 18, 2008). "'Lust' and war at Asian Film Awards". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
4. Schwankert, Steven (March 18, 2008). "'Secret' winner at AFAs". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
5. Lim, Marcus (January 21, 2009). "'The Good' leads Asian awards race". Variety . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
6. Coonan, Clifford (March 23, 2009). "Japan shines at Asian Film Awards". Variety . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
7. Chu, Karen (January 20, 2010). "'Bodyguards,' 'Mother' top AFA noms". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
8. Landreth, Jonathan (March 22, 2010). "'Mother' tops Asian Film Awards". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
9. Shackleton, Liz (January 20, 2011). "Bullets, Confessions lead nominations for Asian Film Awards". Screen Daily . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
10. Napolitano, Dean (March 22, 2011). "'Uncle Boonmee' Wins AFA Best Picture Award -- Scene Asia". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
11. Shackleton, Liz (January 17, 2012). "Flying Swords leads nominations for Asian Film Awards". Screen Daily . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
12. Napolitano, Dean (March 20, 2012). "'A Separation' Triumphs at 2012 Asian Film Awards - Complete List of Winners". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
13. Napolitano, Dean (March 18, 2013). "Full List: Winners of the Seventh Asian Film Awards 2013". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
14. Seno, Alexandra A. (March 28, 2014). "'The Grandmaster' Leads Asian Film Awards 2014 Winners". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
15. "'Blind Massage' The Big Winner as China Dominates Asian Film Awards". The Wall Street Journal . March 25, 2015. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
16. Shackleton, Liz (February 3, 2016). "'The Assassin' leads nods for Asian Film Awards". Screen Daily . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
17. Grater, Tom (March 18, 2016). "'The Assassin' sweeps Asian Film Awards". Screen Daily . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
18. Frater, Patrick (January 11, 2017). "'Handmaiden,' 'Bovary,' 'Train' Lead Asian Film Awards Nominations". Variety . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
19. Liu, Marian (March 22, 2017). "Iranian movie 'The Salesman' among big winners at Asian Film Awards". CNN . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
20. Shackleton, Liz (January 11, 2018). "'Legend Of The Demon Cat' leads Asian Film Awards nominations". Screen Daily . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
21. Shackleton, Liz (March 17, 2018). "Feng Xiaogang's 'Youth' wins best film at Asian Film Awards". Screen Daily . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
22. Lee, Edmund (January 11, 2019). "Asian Film Awards 2019 nominations: Burning, Shoplifters vie for top prizes". South China Morning Post . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
23. Lee, Edmund (March 18, 2019). "Asian Film Awards 2019 winners: Shoplifters named best picture; China, Japan and South Korea dominate". South China Morning Post . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
24. Noh, Jean (September 9, 2020). "'Parasite' heads nominations for first Asian Film Awards hosted by Busan". Screen Daily . Retrieved March 17, 2025.
25. Noh, Jean (October 28, 2020). "'Parasite' wins top prize at Asian Film Awards". Screen Daily . Retrieved March 17, 2025.
26. Soriano, Jianne (September 9, 2021). "Asian Film Awards 2021: Full List of Nominees". Tatler Asia . Retrieved March 17, 2025.
27. Soriano, Jianne (October 8, 2021). "All the Winners From the Asian Film Awards 2021". Tatler Asia . Retrieved March 17, 2025.
28. Rosser, Michael (January 6, 2023). "'Decision To Leave' leads Asian Film Awards nominations". Screen Daily . Retrieved March 17, 2025.
29. Rosser, Michael (March 12, 2023). "'Drive My Car' wins top prize at Asian Film Awards, Tony Leung takes two trophies". Screen Daily . Retrieved March 17, 2025.
30. Frater, Patrick; Ramachandran, Naman (March 10, 2024). "'Evil Does Not Exist' Wins Best Picture at Asian Film Awards". Variety . Retrieved March 17, 2025.
31. 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 17, 2025.

External links

• Asian Film Awards Academy