Korean Films and Actors Win Awards at Green Planet Film Awards

Korean actors and actresses and films won high acclaims at Hollywood's 2nd Green Planet Movie Awards held in California on Mar. 23.

Director Bong Joon-ho's film "Mother - 2009" swept the Asian section, winning the Best Foreign Culture Film of the Year in the Major Motion Picture Awards section, followed by the Best International Film (Asia) and the Best International Drama (Asia). Director Bong himself won the Best International Director (Asia).

Also at the awarding ceremony was actor Jung Ji-hoon, who also goes by the name Rain when he sings. Jung starred in two major Hollywood movies "Ninja Assassin" and "Speed Racer". He and Sandra Oh, a Korean-Canadian actress who appears in the hit American TV series "Grey's Anatomy" weregot included in the list of 10 Outstanding Asians in Hollywood. Jung was also named the Asian Cultural Ambassador and the Best International Entertainer (Asia).

Other Korean actors Lee Byeong-Heon and Choi Min-sik had their names listed on the 10 Best International Actors of the Decade (Asia); and actresses Kim Yoon-jin and Kim Hye-soo on the 10 Best International Actresses of the Decade. Kim Yoon-jin also stars in another American TV series: "Lost".

The Green Planet Movie Awards, previously titled the Green Globe Film Awards, is one of the biggest international film events in Hollywood with the theme of saving the environment. In this festival, it's the viewers – fans and critics alike – from all around the world who get to select the winners through voting.

Meanwhile, this awardsing ceremony came only three days after fourth Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong on Mar. 22. At that event,e time "Mother - 2009" was honored beforehand with the Best Film Award, the Best Actress Award, which went to Kim Hye-ja, who took played the mother's title role in the film, and the Best Scriptwriter Award that went to both director Bong and his copartner-writer Park Eun-kyo.