"Family Ties" ("The Birth of a Family") Wins Top Prize at Home

The nation's oldest film awards ceremony, the Grand Bell Awards, gave its top prize to low-key hybrid-family-drama "Family Ties" ("The Birth of a Family") , directed by Kim Tae-yong. The film, which has toured a number of international film festivals winning the top prize at the International Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece, also picked up a Grand Bell Best Screenplay award. The win was a happy surprise after many expected last summer's
blockbuster The Host to take top honors. "The Host" did however snatch up a Best Director award for Bong Joon-ho and Best Editing for Kim Sun-min.

Actress Kim Ah-joong, whose fame is spreading like wildfire across south-east Asia, picked up the Best Actress award for her lead in the cutting-comedy "200 Pounds Beauty". The sleeper-hit also took away the Best Cinematography and Best Music awards for PARK Hyun-cheol and LEE Jae-hak respectively. Veteran star Ahn Seong-gi received a Best Actor prize for his role in "Radio Star". "Tazza: The High Rollers" ("The War Of Flower") snagged a Best Supporting actor prize for Kim Yoon-seok along with Best Costuming. Both Best Supporting Actress (Shim Hye-jin) and Best New Actress (Jo I-jin) went to cast in the comedy "Over the Border" (3South of the Border").

"Like A Virgin" newcomer Ryoo Deok-hwan won the Best New Actor award, while the Best New Director prize went to Kwon Hyeong-jin for his debut "For Horowitz" ("My Piano"). CJ Entertainment's big-budget effects movie "The Restless" won Best Visual Effects. Actor JUNG Ji-hoon (a.k.a Rain) and actress Kim Tae-hee were applauded with Best Overseas Popularity awards. Meanwhile, Cannes award-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon received a special honorary award for her lead in "Secret Sunshine", which will not be officially eligible for a nomination until next year.

Nigel D'Sa (KOFIC)