徐帆亚洲电影大奖封后 “波米叔叔”夺最佳

    The Thai film “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” was named best picture at the fifth Asian Film Awards on Monday in a ceremony overshadowed* by the absence of Japanese filmmakers who stayed home in the wake of a deadly earthquake and tsunami*.

    Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s mystical drama follows a dying man from Thailand’s rural northeast who explores his own past and the idea of reincarnation* in his final days. Apichatpong said it was especially sweet to win in his home region, a year after he took the Palme d’Or award at France’s Cannes Film Festival.

    Veteran South Korean director Lee Chang-dong took home best director and best screenplay for “Poetry,” about an elderly woman who discovers a passion for writing poems. Lee also won best screenplay for the same movie at Cannes last year.

    Another South Korean, Ha Jung-woo, won best actor for his role as a minority Korean in China who becomes a contract* killer in his ethnic homeland to pay off his debts in “The Yellow Sea.”

    China’s Xu Fan was best actress for playing a grieving* widow in her husband Feng Xiaogang’s earthquake epic “Aftershock,” which also won for best visual effects. Feng’s picture, set against the deadly 1976 earthquake in the northeastern Chinese city Tangshan, was also honored for box-office performance after its massive domestic take of US$100 million last year.

    Accepting his box-office award, Feng announced that two of the investors in “Aftershock,” Hong Kong studio Media Asia and mainland counterpart Huayi Brothers, have pledged 500,000 yuan (US$76,000) for relief efforts in Japan.

    Retired Hong Kong producer Raymond Chow, who guided the careers of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, was honored for lifetime achievement.

    (SD-Agencies)