The Korean smash hit movie "A Taxi Driver" bagged the Best Movie award in Los Angeles as it continued its winning momentum ahead of the Oscar nominations in January.
At the recently concluded Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles, "A Taxi Driver" won Best Movie, "He Can Do, She Can Do, Why Not Me" Humanitarian Award and Special Mention for star Song Kang Ho for his "dynamic, intricate and compelling performance."
Hong Kong's "Mad World" won a Special Jury Award while Aktan Arym Kubat of "Centaur" won Best Actor and Anoma Janadari of "Burning Birds" took home the Best Actress award.
Winning Best New Directors were the directors for the Georgie movie "Scary Mother" and Russian film "How Viktor 'The Garlic' Took Alexey 'The Stud' to the Nursing Home." The Audience Award went to Turkey's "Ayla: The Daughter of War."
"A Taxi Driver" is South Korea's entry to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 90th Academy Awards which will be held on March 4 next year at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The nominations will be announced on January 23.
The movie is about a taxi driver played by Song Kang Ho, who takes a German TV journalist from Seoul to cover the Gwangju Uprising in May 1980.
"A Taxi Driver" is the No. 1 film in South Korea this year so far, selling 12.18 million tickets and grossing $86.21 million since August 2. It is the only film to date to surpass the 10 million ticket mark.
At the recent 54th Daejong Film Awards, "A Taxi Driver" bagged Best Film and Best Planning. It also won Best Film at the 26th Buil Film Awards while Song Kang Ho emerged as Best Actor at the Fantasia International Film Festival and 1st The Seoul Awards.
