The 51st Daejong Awards

The star-studded extravaganza known as The Daejong Film Awards took place on Friday the 21st of November, and as with most years the results were a mixture of predictable winners, pleasant surprises and ‘what the?!’ moments.

The results went largely as anticipated – you can read our list of predictions here – particularly in regards to the male-centered competitions.

Unsurprisingly, the Best Film award went to the record breaking historical epic The Admiral: Roaring Currents (명량 -회오리바다), which also saw Choi Min-shik win Best Actor for his turn as legendary Admiral Yi Sun-shin. Given the popularity of the film as the highest grossing production in Korean cinematic history, the result was expected although it’s a great shame that The Attorney (변호인) and Song Kang-ho were not recognised.

Best Director went to Kim Seong-hoon for A Hard Day (끝까지 간다), which is a great result considering that Admiral director Kim Han-min was also in contention. Meanwhile the highly – and arguably most – competitive category, Best New Director award went to Yang Woo-seok for The Attorney, who also received the prize for Best Scenario for his collaboration with Yoon Hyeon-ho.

The big shocks were reserved for the female-centered awards. Despite receiving international praise and a host of awards, Cheon Woo-hee was criminally overlooked for her role in Han Gong-ju (한공주) in favor of Son Ye-jin for The Pirates (해적: 바다로 간 산적) for Best Actress. Furthermore in the Best New Actress category Lim Ji-yeon won for her role in Obsessed (인간중독), in spite of the enormous praise heaped upon Kim Sae-ron for A Girl at My Door (도희야). Han Ye-ri (Haemoo (aka Sea Fog (해무) also missed out to Kim Young-ae (The Attorney) for Best Supporting Actress, although Han’s co-star  Park Yoo-chun won Best New Actor.

For the full list of winners, please visit Asianwiki here.