Japanese stars and moviemakers were celebrating Tuesday after blitzing the annual Asian Film Awards. The country's films dominated the glitzy ceremony in Hong Kong, scooping best picture, best director and best actor titles, and halting South Korea's stranglehold over the event. “Tokyo Sonata,” a portrait of the breakdown of a Japanese family, won the award for best film. Its director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, best known for his thrillers and suspense movies, said he believed “Tokyo Sonata” appealed to audiences across the region because it captured the dark side of human nature. Masahiro Motoki scooped the best actor award for “Departures”, which also won the best foreign language film in the Oscars. He played a cellist forced to take a job in the funeral business after his orchestra was dissolved. Hirokazu Koreeda beat action film director and hometown hero John Woo to the best director award for “Still Walking,” about how a family deals with the drowning of a relative. China's Zhou Xun grabbed the best actress title for “The Equation of Love and Death,” where she played a taxi-driver searching for her fiancé who had disappeared years ago. “I had to play a very, very lonely character,” she said after the event. “Jung Woo-sung was crowned best supporting actor for his role in smash hit “The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” one of the few successes for South Korean films at the awards. The country's films have dominated the Asian Film Awards, a showcase for the best in the region's cinema, since the first ceremony in 2007. Best supporting actress went to Gina Pareno, for her role in the Philippine movie “Service.” Adding to the event's pan-Asian flavor, trade publication The Hollywood Reporter presented the Nielsen Box Office Award to Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra. Thirty-six films from 11 territories in Asia vied for 13 prizes this year.
