The Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards 2024 reveal the winners at a ceremony held at the Busan Cinema Center during the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), Sunday. Courtesy of BIFF
BUSAN — The Chinese TV series "Blossoms Shanghai," directed by famed Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, has won two top prizes, grabbing the Best Creative award at this year's Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards ceremony in Busan on Sunday.
The 30-episode series, set in Shanghai in the 1990s and revolving around a young man's growth in the business world during China's economic rise in the country's financial hub, received the award that recognizes "the most outstanding work."
It also picked up the award for best lead actor in the ceremony at the Busan Cinema Center that took place on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival, which runs until Friday.
The series, which gained huge domestic popularity after its release on the Chinese streaming site Tencent Video in late December, is the Hong Kong director's first television series. The work is adapted from an award-winning novel of the same title and is made in the Shanghainese dialect, which received praises from viewers for presenting an authentic flavor of the city's stories.
Chinese actor Hu Ge, who played the protagonist in "Blossoms Shanghai," accepted the two awards at the ceremony and read a message from Wong.
"'Blossoms Shanghai' is my first series and it took me 10 years from starting to the completion. Every step is filled with challenges and difficulties, but I firmly believe that the power of film and television can transcend language barriers and surpass both time and borders," the director said in the message.
"Through a story set in China 30 years ago, audiences from different regions can find resonance and experience the depth and beauty of life," he said.
Hu Ge speaks as he receives the award for best lead actor during a ceremony held at the Busan Cinema Center in Busan, Sunday. Courtesy of BIFF
Nominees for the best creative category also included three series from Japan, Indonesia and Thailand, and two Korean series "A Killer Paradox" and "Daily Dose of Sunshine."
The Taiwanese series "Imperfect Us," which received the most nominations this year in five of the 11 competitive categories, won best lead actress and best original song, a newly introduced category this year.
"I'm so pleased and honored to receive this award. I believe that this award can be a great power and strength for me and the project. I truly believe that a good script can let people feel understood, and it can be very inspirational," Ariel Lin said after winning best lead actress.
Ariel Lin speaks as she receives the award for best lead actress during a ceremony held at the Busan Cinema Center in Busan, Sunday. Courtesy of BIFF
Korean productions and actors received several awards, with Korean show "Boyhood" winning the best OTT original award that recognizes works for their popularity and quality. Actors Ahn Jae-hong and Yeom Hye-ran from Netflix's "Mask Girl" won awards for best supporting actor.
Korean romance fantasy series "The Atypical Family" won best writer, while the best visual effects award went to Netflix original series "Parasyte: The Grey."
The award for Asian best content went to Kazakhstan's "1286" and Indonesia's first Netflix original series "Cigarette Girl," also nominated for the best creative category, won best director.
This year's edition received 201 submissions from 16 countries, and 41 works from 10 countries have been selected as the final nominees in 11 competitive categories.
The newly added People's Choice Award in the invitation category, which received a total count of around 600,000 global fans votes' for their favorite actors, went to Kim Hye-yoon and Byeon Woo-seok of the romance drama "Lovely Runner."
The Asia Contents Awards were launched in 2019 to recognize excellence in TV, streaming and web content. Last year, the annual awards were renamed the Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards to expand its scope to recognize global content.
The event was hosted by actors Kang Ki-young and Tiffany Young. Kang acted in Korea's hit drama series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," which was named best content at the Asia Contents Awards in 2022.
Vanessa Cai is a reporter with the South China Morning Post. She is currently based in Seoul, reporting for both The Korea Times and the South China Morning Post under an exchange program.