Nora Aunor, Eddie Garcia win at Asian Film Awards

Garcia won two trophies for playing a grouchy gay man waiting for his death in the company of his dog in “Bwakaw.” Aside from bagging the Best Actor Award, he also won the Best Actor People’s Choice Award.

He bested South Korea’s Choi Min-sik (“Nameless Gangster: Rules Of The Time”), Taiwan’s Joseph Chang (“GF*BF”), China’s Liu Ye (“The Last Supper”) and Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Ka Fai (“Cold War”).

These two wins are already Garcia’s second and third awards for “Bwakaw.” In December, he won Best Actor at the 55^th Asia Pacific Film Festival in Macau.

Aunor’s “Thy Womb” performance also got noticed at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia where she was named Best Actress. Brillante Mendoza also bagged the Best Director prize for “Thy Womb.”

According to WallStreetJournal.com, the winner of the coveted Best Film Award is “Mystery” by Chinese director Lou Ye, a psychological drama about a man with two wives leading a double life.

Watch red carpet footage of the 7th Asian Film Festival here:

The Asia Film Awards is presented every year by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society. Last year, it also honoured Shamaine Buencamino as Best Supporting Actress for “Niño.”

Though Nora Aunor and “Thy Womb” have garnered several international and local film awards, the film is not a commercial hit. Last December, it was pulled out of the Metro Manila Film Festival by festival organizers due to low ticket sales. This despite “Thy Womb’s” Brillante Mendoza bagging Best Director at the MMFF Awards.

Here is the list of winners and nominees:

Best Film

Winner: “Mystery” (China) 

Nominees:

Best Director

Winner: Takeshi Kitano, “Outrage Beyond” (Japan)

Nominees:

Best Actor

Winner: Eddie Garcia, “Bwakaw” (Philippines)

Nominees:

Best Actress

Winner: Nora Aunor, “Thy Womb” (Philippines)

Nominees:

Best Newcomer

Winner: Qi Xi, “Mystery” (China)

Nominees:

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, “The Answer Lies Within” (India)

Nominees:

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Makiko Watanabe, “Capturing Dad” (Japan)

Nominees:

Best Screenwriter

Winner: Mei Feng, Yu Fan, Lou Ye, “Mystery” (China) - WINNER

Nominees:

Best Cinematographer

Winner: Touraj Aslani, “Rhino Season” (Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey)

Nominees:

Best Production Designer

Winner: Bahman Ghobadi, Ali Daryai, “Rhino Season” (Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey)

Nominees:

Best Composer

Winner: Pritam Chakraborty, “Barfi!” (India)

Nominees:

Best Editor

Winner: Mototaka Kusakabe, “The Kirishima Thing” (Japan)

Nominees:

Best Visual Effects

Winner: Farbod Khoshtinat, “Rhino Season” (Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey)

Nominees:

Best Costume Designer

Winner: Man Lim-chung, “The Silent War” (China/Hong Kong)

Nominees:

-With reports from Pia Ranada/Rappler.com