Actor Lee Jungjae Won Best New Director with Hunt, His Directorial Debut

The 43rd Blue Dragon Film Awards was held at KBS Hall in Yeouido Seoul on November 25. The Blue Dragon Film Awards is one of the top 3 Korean film awards, along with the Grand Bell Awards and Baeksang Arts Awards. 

Decision to Leave, which was nominated in 13 categories, won 6 awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Park Chanwook), Best Actress (Tang Wei), Best Actor (Park Haeil), Best Screenplay (Chung Seokyung, Park Chanwook), and Best Music (Cho Youngwook). 

Director Park Chanwook, who was absent from the award ceremony due to filming overseas, said, "I can't join the award ceremony because I'm filming in Los Angeles. I resent it. One good thing about being a director is that you have many opportunities to meet talented people in different fields. I met a lot of good actors and staff members while directing Decision to Leave. I want to share this honor with them.” As a result, Director Park Chanwook, who already won two Blue Dragon Awards for JSA and Oldboy, could add his 3rd trophy. 

Tang Wei, who first visited the Blue Dragon Film Awards after being nominated for Best Actress in the film Late Autumn, set a record as the first foreign actor who won the best actress award at the Blue Dragon Film Awards. She said, "I thank the director, the scriptwriter, and the audience. An actor lives her or his life waiting for one good script and one good character. We sometimes wait for months, years, or even decades. I'm so lucky to meet the character Song Seorae. I'm so grateful for that.” 

Actor Lee Jungjae's directorial debut, Hunt, won 3 awards, including Best New Director, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography and Lighting. The Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards went to Byun Yohan for Hansan: Rising Dragon and Oh Nara for Perhaps Love, respectively. Also, Kim Donghwi of the film In Our Prime and Kim Hyeyoon of The Girl on a Bulldozer were named Best New Actor and Actress, respectively.