ASIAN ACADEMY CREATIVE AWARDS REVEAL NATIONAL WINNERS – NETFLIX, MEDIACORP, VIU & AMAZON BIG WINNERS

Asian Academy Creative Awards reveal National Winners for December’s Ceremonies. Netflix, Singapore’s Mediacorp, regional OTT Viu and Amazon Prime win big.

SINGAPORE, September 29, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Asian Academy Creative Awards today revealed the National Winners to represent their nation or territory in December’s Grand Awards and Gala Final.

Going by the numbers, there was a three-way tie at the top of the National Winners Table. Singapore’s national broadcaster, Mediacorp, claimed 28 wins, including its locally produced scripted programmes and are joined by global streamer Netflix and regional streamer Viu.

Amazon Prime Video scored 22 wins. 10 came from India and 12 came via production partnerships [9 from Philippines], [2 from Japan] and [1] from Korea.

Hong Kong’s TVB and Malaysia’s Astro scored 15. Warner Bros. Discovery claimed 13 National Winner laurels. iQIYI and ABS-CBN picking up 10 wins. Cross town rival, GMA claimed 9.

The Asian Academy Creative Awards reported an unprecedented 17 participating nations and territories achieving a record 310 National Wins with entries up 10% on the previous year.

The National Winner Round honours creative excellence within Asia-Pac and is renowned for producing significant battles across its 36 categories as heavyweight streamers like Netflix, Amazon and Viu do battle with traditional broadcasters and production companies of all sizes.

Organisors, the Asian Academy of Creative Arts, have slated its two prestigious awards ceremonies, red carpet events, power lunch, cocktails and afterparty over 2 sessions on Thursday December 7th.

The events, including the Grand Awards and Gala Final, will return to the historic Chijmes Hall Singapore, the scene of last year’s ceremonies and a major filming location in the hit movie Crazy Rich Asians.

Warner Bros. Discovery President – India, SEA and Korea, Clement Schwebig serves as the Chairman of Awards for 2023.

PAST WINNERS RETURN

The Asian Academy’s golden “Goddess of Creativity” is notoriously difficult to win, in fact, no actor has ever won two.

This year sees some prominent past winners back in contention. Best Actor in a Leading Role winner for 2020, Arjo Atayde is seeking his second golden Goddess when he flies the flag for the Philippines and ABS-CBN’s Cattleya Killer which is also in contention for the Best Drama Series.

Best Actress in a Leading Role of 2018, Indonesia’s Adinia Wirasti is also back in the hunt for gold (You Are Not Alone for MNC) while Best Actress in a Leading Role 2019, India’s Shefali Shah, is in the running for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Darlings (Netflix).

Best Actress in a Leading Role 2021, India’s Konkona Sen Sharma’s Lust Stories 2 (Netflix) is in contention for Best Feature Film. Meanwhile 2019’s Best Actor in a Leading Role Oka Ontara is in the running for Best Entertainment Host for The Bachelor Indonesia (WBD/HBO).

“This is the first time we’ve seen so many past winners all back in the competition, but history suggests winning a second gold within the performance categories is a tough challenge” noted AACA President and Emmy Award winning producer Michael McKay before adding “that said, 2023 has seen a number of entry records broken so this may well be the year”.

OH THE DRAMA

They may be past winners but they’ll face a barrage of competition. Fifteen National Winners from across the region are now in contention for the highly coveted Best Drama Series category including Australia’s Safe Home (SBS) which also picked up national wins for Aisha Dee (Best Actress in a Leading Role) and Stevie Cruz Martin (Direction).

One Cent Thief (Astro) will represent Malaysia while Nippon TV’s time changer Rebooting snared Best Drama Series for Japan plus Best Direction (Itaru Mizuno) and Best Promo or Trailer.

NETFLIX STRONG SHOWING

Netflix promises to be a force again with drama series Trial By Fire representing India in 2 categories – Rajshri Deshpande (Best Actress in a Leading Role) and Best Drama Series. But it is in Korea where Netflix has set the pace and goes into December’s Gala Final with The Glory (Best Drama Series / Best Screenplay) and an acting clean sweep with Ha Jung-woo (Best Actor in a Leading Role) for Narco- Saints with castmate Jo Woo-jin (Supporting Actor) and The Glory’s Song Hye-kyo (Best Actress in a Leading Role) and Lim ji-yeon (Supporting Actress). Narco-Saints also garnered Korea’s Best Direction award thanks to Yoon Jong-bin.

In Thailand, the Netflix celebrity chef feature Hunger has cooked up 3 National Wins – Peter Nopachai (Best Actor in a Leading Role), Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay.

In Taiwan, local Members of Jury confidently backed Netflix political drama Wave Makers which notched 4 wins. Golden Bell winner Hsieh Ying-hsuan claimed Best Actress in a Leading Role and cast mate Gingle Wang Supporting Actress. Wave Maker will also represent Taiwan in the hard-fought Best Drama Series and Best Screenplay categories.

AMAZON PRIME POWERS UP

Amazon Prime Video enters the fray with a bevy of National Winners, especially in India (10). Dahaad garnered two (Best Actor for Vijay Verma and Best Original Production by a Streamer).

The powerful Jubilee has snared 4 categories: (Supporting Actor for Prosenjit Chatterjee, Direction for Vikramaditya Motwane plus Cinematography and Sound). Happy Family’s Ratna Pathak Shah will represent India in Best Actress in a Comedy Role.

In the Philippines the ABS-CBN produced Cattleya Killer took 3 National Wins and Rein Entertainment’s hostage thriller A Silent Night claimed 4 for Amazon including a Best Actress in a Leading Role nod for Heaven Peralejo.

VIU FROM THE TOP

Regional streaming platform Viu scored 28 wins in total and was especially strong in Malaysia (10), Thailand (7) and Indonesia (6). Thailand has been knocking on the door of this competition but will fly into Singapore in December with greater confidence thanks to a varied line-up including Viu’s Get Rich which is up for 4 categories.

GMMTV’s Enigma was also a solid performer for Thailand with 3 wins and Good Old Days will fly the flag in the Best Drama Series category.

SINGAPORE STEPS UP

Singapore topped the Grand Winners’ tally last year but that was mostly off the back of a strong factual slate. This year, however, it’s scripted line-up will be its strongest

Fiona McKay
Asian Academy Creative Awards
[email protected]
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Asian Academy Creative Awards National Winners Reveal 2023