From left: KASE Ryo, the winner of Best Supporting Actor, HIKARI, the winner of Best New Director and KUREISHI Yoshifumi, the winner of Best Sound at the AFA14

The Asian Film Awards Academy (AFA Academy or AFAA) announced the nominations for the 15th Asian Film Awards (AFA15) today. AFA15 will present 16 awards recognizing artistic and technical achievements in Asian cinema, and two Japanese films, Wife of a Spy (Director: KUROSAWA Kiyoshi) and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Director: HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke), along with China’s One Second, South Korea’s The Book of Fish and India’s The Disciple are competing for this year’s Best Film Award.

World-renowned directors KUROSAWA Kiyoshi, ZHANG Yimou, LEE Joon-ik, internationally acclaimed directors HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke, and Adilkhan YERZHANOV are in a tight race for Best Director.

Japanese films and talents were nominated in 14 categories in total, including a Best Actor Award nomination for Under the Open Sky’s YAKUSHO Koji, who was the Festival Ambassador of the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) and recipient of the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award as well as Best Actor Award winner at AFA13; Best Actress Award nomination for AOI Yu for Wife of a Spy, which received nominations in five categories; and HARUMOTO Yujiro for A Balance. His first feature film was screened in the Japanese Cinema Splash section in the 29th TIFF.