The 16th Asia Film Awards to be Held in March
The Asia Film Awards announced on the 6th that Japanese actor Abe Hiroshi has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Asia Film Excellence Award.
The Asia Film Awards is an annual ceremony hosted by the Asia Film Awards Academy (AFAA), established in 2013 by the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and Tokyo International Film Festival to promote the development of Asian cinema. The 16th awards ceremony will be held on the 12th of next month at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
The Asia Film Excellence Award is given to Asian filmmakers who have achieved outstanding accomplishments across Asian film and culture. In 2021, Lee Byung-hun became the first Korean actor to receive this honor.
Selected as the 11th recipient, Abe Hiroshi debuted with the film High School Girl's March (1987) and appeared in popular dramas such as HERO (2001), Dragon Zakura (2005), and The Man Who Can't Get Married (2006). Notably, he starred in director Koreeda Hirokazu’s representative works including Still Walking (2008), I Wish (2011), and the drama series Going My Home (2012) and After the Storm (2016), earning the reputation as Koreeda’s persona.
Additionally, starting with the Hong Kong-Japan co-production King of the Underworld 2 - Asura (1990), he has appeared in over 90 domestic and international works including Tokyo Raiders (2000) starring actors Yang Zaowei and Zhang Baizhi, and Chen Kaige’s The Legend of the Demon Cat (2017). He has received the Best Actor Award at the 36th Japan Academy Awards, the Outstanding Actor and Outstanding Supporting Actor Awards at the 38th Japan Academy Awards, and the Outstanding Supporting Actor Award at the 45th Japan Academy Awards. Last year, he was honored with the Asia Star Award at the 21st New York Asian Film Festival.
Will Fred Wong, director of the Asia Film Awards Academy, stated, “Abe Hiroshi holds a unique position in the Japanese entertainment industry. His passion for acting has brought freshness and vitality to Japanese films and dramas, greatly contributing to the development of Japanese entertainment.”
Abe Hiroshi said, “I am honored to receive the Asia Film Excellence Award at such a prestigious ceremony as the Asia Film Awards. Upon hearing the news, I am happy and grateful to share this honor with the staff I have worked with for many years.”
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