Hong Kong, 19 March 2012 – NADER AND SIMIN, A SEPARATION added yet another award to its long list of accolades as the gripping moral and social drama from Iran dominated tonight’s 6^th Asian Film Awards (AFA). Scooping up the awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter and Best Editor, screenwriter-director Asghar FARHADI’s breakout film rose to the top at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, as luminaries of the Asian film industry looked on.

A total of 14 awards and three special awards were presented by screen stars, celebrities and artistes including JIA Zhangke, Joe ODAGIRI, Karina, YOON Eun-hye, Sylvia CHANG, ZHANG Jing-Chu, Giddens KO, Josie HO and LEE Chang-dong and more, with the prize for Best Film announced by Siqin Gaowa and Singaporean director and 6^th AFA Jury President Eric KHOO.

A dazzling ensemble of international filmmakers, celebrities, guests and prominent industry figures, gathered for the annual event including the 6^th AFA nominees such as Andy LAU, WEI Te-sheng, SONO Sion, Michelle CHEN, Eugene DOMINGO, GWEI Lun-mei, Cris HORWANG, Umin Boya, Chris MARTINEZ and Donny DAMARA, just to name a few. Roof-raising live performances from Japanese rock icon Gackt, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Joanna WANG and Mandopop singer Khalil FONG added a musical highlight to the evening.

The winners of the 6^th AFA are:

Best Film

• NADER AND SIMIN, A SEPARATION (Iran)

Best Director

• Asghar FARHADI ― NADER AND SIMIN, A SEPARATION (Iran)

Best Actor

• Donny DAMARA ― LOVELY MAN (Indonesia)

Best Actress

• Deanie IP ― A SIMPLE LIFE (Hong Kong)

Best Newcomer

• NI Ni ― THE FLOWERS OF WAR (Mainland China)

Best Supporting Actor

• Lawrence KO ― JUMP! ASHIN (Taiwan)

Best Supporting Actress

• Shamaine BUENCAMINO ― NIÑO (The Philippines)

Best Screenwriter

• Asghar FARHADI ― NADER AND SIMIN, A SEPARATION (Iran)

Best Cinematographer

• Jake POLLOCK, LAI Yiu-fai (HKSC) ― WU XIA (Mainland China / Hong Kong)

Best Production Designer

• YEE Chung-man, SUN Li ― WU XIA (Mainland China / Hong Kong)

Best Composer

• CHAN Kwong-wing, Peter KAM, Chatchai PONGPRAPAPHAN ― WU XIA

(Mainland China / Hong Kong)

Best Editor

• Hayedeh SAFIYARI ― NADER AND SIMIN, A SEPARATION (Iran)

Best Visual Effects

• Wook KIM, Josh COLE, Frankie CHUNG ― THE FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE (Hong Kong / Mainland China)

Best Costume Designer

• YEE Chung-man, LAI Hsuan-wu ― THE FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE (Hong Kong / Mainland China)

The winners of the special awards of the 6^th AFA are:

The Lifetime Achievement Award

• Ann HUI

2011’s Top Grossing Asian Film Award

• LET THE BULLETS FLY

The Edward Yang New Talent Award

• Edwin

People’s Choice Awards: My Favourite Actor

• Andy LAU ― A SIMPLE LIFE (Hong Kong)

People’s Choice Awards: My Favourite Actress

• Eugene DOMINGO ― THE WOMAN IN THE SEPTIC TANK (The Philippines)

“Heartfelt congratulations are due to the winners of tonight’s awards, every one of them a worthy victor,” said Mr. Roger GARCIA, Executive Director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, the organiser of the AFA. “Just as Asia’s film industry continues to grow in stature and quality, this year’s AFA has been bigger and better than ever. My thanks to everyone who has participated and supported us in making the 6^th AFA the best yet.”

The 6^th AFA broadcast schedule:

###

For high-resolution photos of the 6^th Asian Film Awards Presentation Ceremony, visit:

https://picasaweb.google.com/6thAsianFilmAwards

About the Asian Film Awards

The AFA Presentation Ceremony takes place as part of Entertainment Expo Hong Kong.  Since 2007, the Asian Film Awards (AFA) has sought to highlight the best in Asian cinema to the world, and to promote Asian film culture both regionally and internationally. Eminent filmmakers, distinguished guests and acclaimed talents from around the world are invited to bestow awards upon the winner(s) of each category, making the Ceremony a dazzling extravaganza as well as an influential cultural event that helps position Hong Kong as the hub of Asian cinema. Each year, the AFA makes presentations in a range of categories such as Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, in recognition of artistic achievements in the cinemas and film industries of the Asian region. The 6^th AFA is one of the Opening Gala events of Entertainment Expo Hong Kong and takes place with two other flagship events of the HKIFFS: the 36^th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), and the 10^th Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF).

For more information about the Asian Film Awards, please visit: www.asianfilmawards.asia.

About Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited

Uniting the World through Film

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) is a charitable, non-profit, non-government organisation dedicated to the discovery and promotion of creativity in the art and culture of film.

Through its year-round programmes, the mission of the Society is to strengthen global appreciation of Chinese film culture and to promote inspiring films from around the world, enriching the cultural life of Hong Kong.

Committed to the development of a vibrant film culture in Hong Kong and Asia, the Society organises three annual flagship events in March and April: The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and the Asian Film Awards (AFA).

Passionately believing in the power of films to unite cultures and generations, the HKIFFS is devoted to giving thousands of film lovers around the region direct access to the world’s most inspired films all year round.

Website: www.hkiff.org.hk

For further information, media only:

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
Ms. April TSUI / Ms. Vickie CHONG
Phone: +852-2578-2823 / +852-6336-8090
E-mail: HKIFFS-MediaEnquiries@waggeneredstrom.com

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society
Ms. Eva CHAN
Phone: +852-2102-7387 / +852-9686-9325
E-mail: eva_chan@hkiff.org.hk

Correction: The statement in this news release “LET THE BULLETS FLY took 730 million RMB” is incorrect. The AFA apologises for the error.

Hong Kong, 8 March 2012 – The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) today (8 March 2012) announced that Mainland director JIANG Wen’s critically acclaimed, larger than life action comedy Let the Bullets Fly will receive the special award as 2011’s Top Grossing Asian Film at the 6^th Asian Film Awards (AFA) ceremony on 19 March 2012 in Hong Kong. Directed, written by and starring JIANG Wen as the desperado Pockmark Zhang, the film also stars CHOW Yun-fat, GE You and Carina LAU. Let the Bullets Fly has broken records – not only for the biggest box office of any Asian film of 2011, but as the highest grossing Chinese-language film of all time. In a little over a month, the film took 730 million yuan (approximately US$115 million).

Let the Bullets Fly, a cowboy story set in the warlord era of China in the 1920s, has not only won popular acclaim but critical plaudits for its complexity, pace and intelligence. A tale of bandits, train robberies, conmen and six-gun shootouts, Bullets struck the perfect balance between popcorn spectacle and ingenious plot – and audiences responded in droves, making JIANG’s fourth feature as director the second highest grossing film ever released in China (behind the international mega-hit Avatar), and packing out cinemas around the world thanks to phenomenal word of mouth.

“I love Let the Bullets Fly,” says LI Cheuk-to, Artistic Director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, the organising body of the AFA. “And I love the fact that it has been so astonishingly successful. It’s a fitting reward for a film that so effectively showcases the depth of talent that exists in Asian cinema. It’s proof that you can have spectacle, you can have laughs, you can have complexity and meaning too, all in one film, and have box-office success. It is a significant artistic and commercial achievement.”

For high-resolution photos of Let the Bullets Fly, visit:

https://picasaweb.google.com/6thAsianFilmAwards

About the Asian Film Awards

The AFA Presentation Ceremony takes place as part of Entertainment Expo Hong Kong.  Since 2007, the Asian Film Awards (AFA) has sought to highlight the best in Asian cinema to the world, and to promote Asian film culture both regionally and internationally. Eminent filmmakers, distinguished guests and acclaimed talents from around the world are invited to bestow awards upon the winner(s) of each category, making the Ceremony a dazzling extravaganza as well as an influential cultural event that helps position Hong Kong as the hub of Asian cinema. Each year, the AFA makes presentations in a range of categories such as Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, in recognition of artistic achievements in the cinemas and film industries of the Asian region. The 6^th AFA is one of the Opening Gala events of Entertainment Expo Hong Kong and takes place with two other flagship events of the HKIFFS: the 36^th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), and the 10^th Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF).

For more information about the Asian Film Awards, please visit: www.asianfilmawards.asia.

About Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited

Uniting the World through Film

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) is a charitable, non-profit, non-government organisation dedicated to the discovery and promotion of creativity in the art and culture of film.

Through its year-round programmes, the mission of the Society is to strengthen global appreciation of Chinese film culture and to promote inspiring films from around the world, enriching the cultural life of Hong Kong.

Committed to the development of a vibrant film culture in Hong Kong and Asia, the Society organises three annual flagship events in March and April: The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and the Asian Film Awards (AFA).

Passionately believing in the power of films to unite cultures and generations, the HKIFFS is devoted to giving thousands of film lovers around the region direct access to the world’s most inspired films all year round.

Website: www.hkiff.org.hk

For further information, media only:

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
Ms. April TSUI / Ms. Vickie CHONG
Phone: +852-2578-2823 / +852-6336-8090
E-mail: HKIFFS-MediaEnquiries@waggeneredstrom.com

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society
Ms. Eva CHAN
Phone: +852-2102-7387 / +852-9686-9325
E-mail: eva_chan@hkiff.org.hk