Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s poignant drama All We Imagine as Light went home with the best picture prize Sunday night at the 18th Asian Film Awards. It was the film’s final stop on a ten-month festival and awards season journey that began last May when it won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
“Thank you so much to my lead actors — three incredible artists and human beings. They are the ones who made this film what it is,” Kapadia said from the stage inside Hong Kong’s gleaming Xiqu Centre, where the ceremony was held. “I’m so happy that we could end our journey here in Hong Kong, a city that has meant a lot to me, watching the amazing films from this city over the years.”
Legendary Hong Kong filmmaker and martial arts star Sammo Hung served as president of the jury that selected the winners of the 2025 AFAs, Asia‘s leading pan-regional cinema honors.
The best director prize went to Japan’s Yoshida Daihachi for his atmospheric character study, Teki Cometh. The film premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in November and swept the event’s award categories.
Hong Kong’s Sean Lau took home the best actor trophy for his arresting turn in Philip Yung’s family drama Papa. The actor thanked the actors who played his family members in the film and gave a shout-out to the host city’s beleaguered filmmaking community.
“I’m very happy because Papa is a Hong Kong-made movie,” Lau said.
The best actress honor, meanwhile, was awarded to Shahana Goswami for her lead performance in Santosh directed by first-time filmmaker Sandhya Suri, who also won the best new director prize. Goswami praised her collaborators but also thanked the AFA academy — and herself.
“I’d also like to thank myself,” she said. “I feel like I’m always under-confident and I never give myself enough credit, so I want to thank the Asian Film Awards Academy for giving me this vote of confidence.”
Best supporting actor went to veteran Taiwanese art house star Lee Kang-sheng for his beguiling performance in Yeo Siew Hua’s mystery thriller Stranger Eyes, which also won the night’s best editing honor. After thanking his director, Lee quipped, “Although I’ve won a lot of best actor awards, I’m getting older so I guess I can only try for best supporting actor now.”
Going into the night, South Korea’s horror hit Exhuma was the year’s favorite with a whopping 11 nominations. The movie, a supernatural thriller directed by Jang Jae-hyun, was both a critical favorite and a huge theatrical sensation in South Korea, becoming the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. But it went home with just two wins — best costume design and best visual effects.
The Hong Kong throwback action epic Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In was the second-most feted film with nine nominations. It also won in two categories — editing and production design.
Veteran Korean actor Jang Dong-gun (Friend, Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War) and Chinese star Tang Wei (Lust, Caution, Decision to Leave) were this year’s recipients of the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award.
Japan’s internationally beloved leading man, Koji Yakusho (Perfect Days, Shall We Dance?, The Eel), meanwhile, received the AFA’s Lifetime Achievement honor. Across a 45-year career in cinema, Yakusho has worked with every major Japanese director of his generation and inhabited over 80 characters, spanning salarymen, samurai, gangsters, cops, seducers and everymen of all stripes. He was previously nominated for the AFA’s best actor honor four times and won twice — for The Blood of Wolves (2018) and Perfect Days (2023) — making him one of the most decorated stars in the awards’ history alongside Hong Kong’s Tony Leung and Korea’s Lee Byung-hun.
“I was truly humbled to hear the names of the past recipients and found myself in awe of such distinguished figures,” Yakusho said. “Receiving this award motivates me to strive for even better work in the remaining years of my acting career.”
The AFAs kick off the Hong Kong film industry’s busiest month of the year. Hong Kong Filmart, Asia’s largest film rights market opens its doors on Monday in the city’s Wanchai district, along with the influential HAF film project market. The Hong Kong International Film Festival kicks off at the end of the month. The festival’s full 2025 film selection will be unveiled at a press conference at Filmart on Tuesday.
See the full list of 2025 Asian Film Award winners below.
BEST FILM
All We Imagine as Light (India, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Black Dog (Mainland China)
Exhuma (South Korea)
Teki Cometh (Japan)
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
BEST DIRECTOR
Payal Kapadia – All We Imagine as Light (India, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Guan Hu – Black Dog (Mainland China)
Jang Jae-hyun – Exhuma (South Korea)
Rithy Panh – Meeting With Pol Pot (Cambodia, France, Taiwan, Qatar, Türkiye)
Yoshida Daihachi – Teki Cometh (Japan)
BEST ACTOR
Eddie Peng – Black Dog (Mainland China)
Choi Min-sik – Exhuma (South Korea)
Sean Lau – Papa (Hong Kong)
Nagatsuka Kyozo – Teki Cometh (Japan)
Michael Hui – The Last Dance (Hong Kong)
BEST ACTRESS
Kani Kusruti – All We Imagine as Light (India, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Sylvia Chang – Daughter’s Daughter (Taiwan)
Kawai Yuumi – Desert of Namibia (Japan)
Kim Go-eun – Exhuma (South Korea)
Shahana Goswami – Santosh (India, United Kingdom, France, Germany)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mitsuishi Ken – All the Long Nights (Japan)
Ikematsu Sosuke – My Sunshine (Japan)
Lee Kang-sheng – Stranger Eyes (Singapore, Taiwan, France, United States)
Chu Pak Hong – The Last Dance (Hong Kong)
Philip Ng – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Maggie Li Lin Lin – All Shall Be Well (Hong Kong)
Divya Prabha – All We Imagine as Light (India, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Lim Ji-yeon – Revolver (South Korea)
Takiuchi Kumi – Teki Cometh (Japan)
Yang Kuei-Mei – Yen and Ai-Lee (Taiwan)
BEST NEW DIRECTOR
Yamanaka Yoko – Desert of Namibia (Japan)
Sora Neo – Happyend (Japan, United States)
Dong Zijian – My Friend An Delie (Mainland China)
Sandhya Suri – Santosh (India, United Kingdom, France, Germany)
Truong Minh Quý – Viêt and Nam (The Philippines, France, Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, Italy)
BEST NEWCOMER
Lee Do-hyun – Exhuma (South Korea)
Kurihara Hayato – Happyend (Japan, United States)
Putthipong Assaratanakul – How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (Thailand)
Dylan So – Papa (Hong Kong)
Duy Bao Dinh Dao – Viêt and Nam (The Philippines, France, Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, Italy)
BEST SCREENPLAY
Wada Kiyoto, Miyake Sho – All the Long Nights (Japan)
Payal Kapadia – All We Imagine as Light (India, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Jang Jae-hyun – Exhuma (South Korea)
Pierre Erwan Guillaume, Rithy Panh – Meeting With Pol Pot (Cambodia, France, Taiwan, Qatar, Türkiye)
Mohammad Rasoulof – The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Iran, Germany, France)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Yang Donglin – A Tapestry of a Legendary Land (Mainland China)
Choi Yoon-sun – Exhuma (South Korea)
Dorjee Dradhul Gurung – Shambhala (Nepal, Hong Kong, France, Norway, Qatar, Taiwan, Türkiye, United States)
Miyamoto Mari – Teki Cometh (Japan)
Bruce Yu, Karen Yip – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Huo Tingxiao, Li Chang – Black Dog (Mainland China)
Pham Phong Lan – Don’t Cry, Butterfly (Vietnam, Singapore, The Philippines, Indonesia)
Seo Sung-kyung – Exhuma (South Korea)
Hayashida Yuji – The Box Man (Japan)
Kenneth Mak, Chau Sai Hung Ambrose – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
BEST EDITING
Clément Pinteaux – All We Imagine as Light (India, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Rithy Panh, Matthieu Laclau – Meeting With Pol Pot (Cambodia, France, Taiwan, Qatar, Türkiye)
William Chang Suk Ping – My Friend An Delie (Mainland China)
Jojo Shek – Papa (Hong Kong)
Cheung Ka Fai – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Hong Kyeong-pyo – Harbin (South Korea)
Lv Songye – My Friend An Delie (Mainland China)
Aziz Zhambakiyev – Shambhala (Nepal, Hong Kong, France, Norway, Qatar, Taiwan, Türkiye, United States)
Shinomiya Hidetoshi – Teki Cometh (Japan)
Cheng Siu Keung – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
Hi’Spec – All the Long Nights (Japan)
Kim Tae-sung – Exhuma (South Korea)
Katsumoto Michiaki – The Box Man (Japan)
Chu Wan Pin – The Last Dance (Hong Kong)
Kawai Kenji – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Danny Yin – Black Dog (Mainland China)
Sato Fumiro, Kobari Yasuhiro – Black Ox (Japan, Taiwan)
Tomi Kuo, Chiu Chun-Yi – Dead Talents Society (Taiwan)
Kim Shin-chul, Daniel Son – Exhuma (South Korea)
Lin Chun Yue Jules, Ma Siu Fu, Garrett K Lam, Yee Kwok Leung – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
BEST SOUND
Zurab Kurmanbayev – Cadet (Kazakhstan)
Kim Byung-in – Exhuma (South Korea)
Tu Duu-Chih, Tu Tse-Kang – Stranger Eyes (Singapore, Taiwan, France, United States)
Yiu Chun Hin, Cheung Man Hoi, To Burnard Davy – Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
Vincent Villa – Viêt and Nam (The Philippines, France, Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, Italy)
