Korean director to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s edition on March 25.

Korean director Im Kwon-taek will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s edition of the Asian Film Awards in Macau on March 25. 

Im has directed more than a hundred films across different genres, starting in the 1950s with mainstream projects, and veering into more realistic cinema from his 1973 drama Weeds. 

His 1986 Surrogate Mother (1986) won best actress for Kang Soo-yeoun at the Venice film festival, marking Korea’s first ever win in Venice. Chunhyang (2000) was the first Korean film to compete in Cannes and two years later Im’s Chihwaseon (2002) won best director at the festival. 

Im is still an active filmmaker today – his most recent film Revivre, about a middle-aged man tending to his dying wife and fantasising about a younger woman, premiered at Venice last year. 

Previous AFA Lifetime Achievement Award winners include Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hong Kong director Ann Hui, Hong Kong producer Raymond Chow, Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan and Japanese director Yoji Yamada. 

Japanese actress Miki Nakatani is also being honoured at this year’s Asian Film Awards with an Excellence in Asian Cinema Award.

The AFAs are organised by the Asian Film Awards Academy and will be held at the Venetian Theatre of The Venetian Macao. 

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