Film director Park Chan-wook and actor Ahn Hyo-seop received the Beautiful Artist Awards.
On the 23rd at 6 p.m., the Shin Young-kyun Arts and Culture Foundation (chairman Ahn Seong-gi) held the 15th Beautiful Artist Awards ceremony at Lightroom Seoul, located on Olympic-daero in Godeok-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul. On that day, director Park Chan-wook received this year's film artist award. The theater artist award went to actor Kwak Ji-sook, the meritorious artist award went to Hwang Ki-seong, chairman of Hwang Ki-seong Film Company, the Good People artist award in the philanthropic institutional sector went to singer Insooni, and the new artist award went to actor Ahn Hyo-seop, each receiving a prize of 20 million won and a marble trophy.
Now in its 15th year, the ceremony has honored more than 50 artists to date, and this year's event featured a retrospective program with past recipients participating and looking back at their achievements through video. Also in attendance were some 200 arts, theater and film figures, including the foundation's founder and honorary chairman Shin Young-kyun, the veteran actor who is nearing 100, as well as Im Kwon-taek, Kim Dong-ho, Lee Jang-ho, Shin Su-jeong, Son Jin-chaek, Jung Ji-young, Jang Mi-hee, Lee Young-ae, Lee Joon-ik, Song Kang-ho and Hwang Jung-min.
Director Park Chan-wook, who won this year's film artist award, began directing films in 1992 with Dal-eun... Haega Kkuneun Kkum and through about 20 works including Joint Security Area (JSA), Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and Decision to Leave has greatly contributed to the internationalization of Korean cinema. In particular, No Other Choice, screened this year, received the highest number of votes in a recommendation ballot by newspaper culture desk editors who judged the film category. The recipient, Park Chan-wook, could not attend because of overseas promotion for No Other Choice, so actor Song Kang-ho, winner of the 6th Beautiful Artist Grand Prize, attended as his proxy to accept the award.
Actor Kwak Ji-sook, winner of the theater artist award, began her acting career with the 2000 play Oil and has won audience love for outstanding performances in plays such as Oasis, The Birds' Grave, The Tragedy of Hamlet, One Day I Opened the Door and 4 Minutes 12 Seconds. Especially her performance as Barabbas in the widely praised Malta's Jew left a legacy as a leading actor of the past year.
Hwang Ki-seong, chairman of the Hwang Ki-seong film company, winner of the meritorious artist award, entered the film industry in the 1960s as planning director at Shin Film, leading the renaissance of Korean cinema, planning about 100 works including The Mute Sam-ryong, Yeong-ja's Heyday and Mandala, and discovering and supporting numerous new directors. He opened the era of Korean film producers with Whale Hunting and later established the Hwang Ki-seong troupe and produced 24 films including Mother, The Age of Success, You, the Poppy Blossoms, Happiness Is Not in Order of Grades, Dr. Bong, Ghost Mamma and Palace Concubine. He also founded the Seoul Film Commission, creating spaces for film creation and greatly contributing to the revitalization of the Korean film industry.
Following last year's Shin Mina, this year's recipient of the Good People artist award for philanthropic entertainers, singer Insooni, debuted in 1978 as a member of the girl group Hee Sisters and has for more than 50 years greatly contributed to the development of Korean popular music and performance culture with outstanding vocal ability across various genres. In 2012 she founded the volunteer group Insooni and Good People and the following year established Haemil School to educate multicultural family youth, which she has continued to operate and support.
New artist award winner actor Ahn Hyo-seop began acting through television drama and recently received praise from audiences for portraying the protagonist Kim Dok-ja in his first film, Omniscient Reader: The Prophet. He also voiced Jin-woo of the Lion Boys in the Netflix global animated film K-pop Demon Hunters, attracting the attention of viewers worldwide and emerging as a new face of Korean content on the global stage.
[Photo] Courtesy of the Shin Young-kyun Arts and Culture Foundation.
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