Veteran performers Nora Aunor and Eddie Garcia won best actress and best actor, respectively, at the 7th Asian Film Awards (AFA) held recently in Hong Kong.
Aunor was cited for her top caliber performance as Shaleha Sarail, a Badjao midwife in the Brillante Mendoza-directed movie “Thy Womb.” She bested Cho Min-soo of South Korea (for the film “Pieta”), Golshifteh Farahani of Afghanistan (“The Patience Stone”), Gwen Lun-mei of Taiwan (“GF*BF”) and Hao Lei of China (“Mystery”).
Prior the film was the recipient of three special prizes by other Italian film groups – La Navicella Venezia Cinema Award, the P. Nazareno Taddei Award – Special Mention, and the Bisato d’ Oro Award for Nora Aunor as Best Actress given by Premio Della Critica Indipendiente. The talented actress was also named Best Actress last November at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Garcia, on the other hand, won Best Actor for his role as a lonely 70-year old gay man who cares for a stray dog he named Bwakaw. The other nominees for the award were Taiwan’s Joseph Chang (“GF*BF”), South Korea’s Choi Min-sik (“Nameless Gangster: Rules Of The Time”), Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Ka Fai (“Cold War”) and China’s Liu Ye (“The Last Supper”). Last December Garcia got the best actor recognition at the 55th Asia Pacific Film Festival held in Macau.
The film was directed by Jun Lana and was selected as the Filipino entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but did not make the final shortlist.
AFA was first launched in 2007 by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFF). The purpose of the awards is to give annual recognition to excellent film professionals in Asia..
