All Best Actor Nominees a ‘No Show’ at Daejong Awards

Daejong Film Awards committee at the press conference. (Image : Yonhap)

SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – All best actor nominees for South Korea’s oldest film awardshow this year will not be attending the event on Friday, as the institution remains mired in controversy.

This year’s best actor nominees for the Daejong Film Awards are Hwang Jung-min of “Ode to My Father,” Son Hyun-joo of “Chronicles of Evil,” Yoo Ah-in of “The Throne,” and Ha Jung-woo of “Assassination,” all of whom will be absent, the organizers said.

The five best actress nominees — Kim Yun-jin of “Ode to My Father,” Jun Ji-hyun of “Assassination,” Kim Hye-soo of “Coin Locker Girl,” Uhm Jung-hwa of “Wonderful Nightmare,” and Han Hyo-joo of “Beauty Inside” — will also miss the event.

The same goes for Kim Soo-hyun and Gong Hyo-jin who have been chosen as best actor and actress by an online vote.

Most cited scheduling conflicts and overseas business trips as the reason, but the Daejong Film Awards has recently suffered a blow to its image as the most prestigious movie honors in South Korea.

Last month, the awards committee announced it would rescind the honors if the winners were absent at the ceremony, causing backlash from the acting community.

The paid nature of the online voting system also raised concerns that the committee was exploiting movie fans for profit.

The logistics side of the organization proved problematic after the committee flip-flopped on its decision to create a new awards category. It also listed the profile of another actress as that of a best new actress nominee.

But organizers remained firm in their policy and vowed to go ahead with the ceremony.

“The Daejong Film Awards is an honor given out by our citizens,” Cho Geun-woo, the awards’ business manager, said. “I think the nominees who decided not to come have the wrong attitude.”

The 52nd Daejong Film Awards will be broadcast live on KBS 2TV from 7:20 p.m.

(Yonhap)