The Asian Contents & Film Market announces nominees for the 2nd Asia Contents Awards, which will be held on October 25th. This year’s Asia Contents Awards will be broadcast online due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Asia Contents Awards recognizes outstanding Asian content from TV, OTT and other diverse platforms. Open calls for applications have been made this year with 75 submissions accepted from 17 countries. Preliminary and final selections have selected 28 works from 12 countries to compete in 7 categories. In addition, the three categories including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Excellence Award and Best Rising Star will be announced without nominees on the day of the ceremony.
The nine jurors for the final selection include Yao Chen, the winner of Best Actress in the Asia Content Awards 2019; Stephen Fung, a Chinese director and actor; Joo Chulhwan, a professor at Ajou University in Korea; and Terawaki Ken, a professor at Kyoto University of the Arts.
This year’s Asia Contents Awards nominees contain Korean dramas that have attracted many international and local viewers including The World of the Married, Crash Landing on You, When the Camellia Blooms, Kingdom S2, Hospital Playlist, Extracurricular and Hyena.
International nominees include Taiwanese drama The Victims' Game (five nominations), a story about a forensic detective with Asperger’s syndrome, and The Bad Kids (four nominations), a Chinese breakout OTT series released in the first half of 2020. Other nominated works from Asia include Japanese TV series Nagi’s Long Vacation and Solitary Gourmet S8; Singaporean TV series Last Madame; and Thai TV series One Year and In Family We Trust.
The Asia Content Awards will strictly comply with government social distancing measures. To safely hold the ceremony, only the hosts and performers will be on the onsite venue; in addition, international and local awardees and recipients will attend online. Broadcasting online is expected to present a new aspect of the award in the era of the New Normal.
The ceremony will be hosted by Nichkhun, actor and a member of Korean boy band 2PM, and Kim Sae-yeon, the previous-year’s host and winner of the Miss Korea 2019 title. Performances to celebrate the awards will be given by Korean girl band Lovelyz and Kim Jae-hwan, who sings the original sound track from Crash Landing on You.
The 2nd Asia Contents Awards will be broadcast online at the official YouTube channel of the Busan International Film Festival on Oct 25th, 4 pm - 6pm (KST).