Nora Aunor, Eddie Garcia win top acting honors at Asian Film Awards

Eddie Garcia and Nora Aunor pose with their awards at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center where the 7th Asian Film Awards rites were held Monday night. PHOTO BY FERDINAND LAPUZ

MANILA, Philippines—Two Filipino actors, Nora Aunor and Eddie Garcia, won big at the 7th Asian Film Awards (AFA), held at the Grand Hall of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Hong Kong Monday night.

Aunor won for best actress for Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s “Thy Womb”—the same role which earlier won her best actress at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards held in Brisbane, Australia in November.

Garcia won for best actor for Jun Robles Lana’s “Bwakaw”—the same role which earlier won him best actor at the Asia Pacific Film Festival held in Macau in December. Garcia also won people’s choice favorite actor for the same film.

Among Aunor’s fellow nominees in the best actress category were South Korea’s Cho Min-soo (“Pieta”), Afghanistan’s Golshifteh Farahani (“The Patience Stone”), Taiwan’s Gwei Lun-Mei (“GF*BF*”) and China’s Hao Lei (“Mystery”).

People’s choice favorite actress went to Min-soo of South Korea.

Also nominated for best actor with Garcia are Taiwan’s Joseph Chang (“GF*BF*”), Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Ka-fai (“Cold War”), China’s Liu Ye (“The Last Supper”) and South Korea’s (“Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time”).

Last year, two Filipinos brought home trophies from the AFA:  Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino won best supporting actress for Loy Arcenas’ “Niño,” while Eugene Domingo won people’s choice favorite actress for Marlon Rivera’s “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank.”

In 2009, Gina Pareño won best supporting actress for Mendoza’s “Serbis” at the AFA.

This year’s jury was headed by Cantopop singer-actor Andy Lau, who was voted last year’s people’s choice favorite actor for “A Simple Life.”

The people’s choice favorite actor and actress categories were decided by an online poll among Netizens.

Apart from Garcia and Aunor, Domingo also attended the AFA as a presenter.

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, who starred in the Oscar-winning film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was honored with the “Excellence in Asian Cinema” award.

Originally posted: March 18, 2013 | 10:32 pm