Acclaimed Hong Kong screen legend Chow Yun-fat has been named Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the 28th Busan International Film Awards (BIFF). According to the official website, this award is granted to filmmakers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the Asian film industry and culture.
Chow is the second Hong Kong actor to win this award, after Tony Leung was honoured last year. Our homegrown megastar was a frontrunner in Hong Kong’s golden age of cinema, and can be considered the very face of the heroic bloodshed genre of film. Since his on-screen debut in 1976, Chow has starred in approximately 100 movies, such as The Killer, God of Gamblers, Hard Boiled, and Curse of the Golden Flower.
In tribute to his prestigious award, the BIFF will be screening two classic films starring Chow – John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – at the festival in Haeundae-gu, Busan, as well as a more recent release, Anthony Pun’s One More Chance.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Kevin Yeung, has congratulated Chow on this accolade. “With his outstanding acting skills, Chow plays a diverse repertoire and gives life to many classic characters. He made a name for himself in Hong Kong and even worldwide before successfully making his way to Hollywood, and established his status in the global film industry,” says Yeung.
Running from October 4 to 13, the BIFF will screen over 200 films from 69 countries. Chow will be present at the festival to accept his award, along with other guests such as Luc Besson, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Lee Issac Chung, Justin Chon, and Fan Bingbing. The festival will also have segments celebrating the life and works of the late actor Yun Jung-hee and the late Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
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