Nov 24, 2006, 17:47 GMT
Taipei - South Korea swept the most awards at the 51st Asia- Pacific Film Festival held in Taiwan on Friday.
South Korean films won six awards, including Best Actor (Bravo, My Life, Lee Jae-eung), Best Actress (Son Ye-jin, April Snow), Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing and Best Sound Effects.
South Korea's film industry has attracted growing world attention in recent years. At last year's festival, South Korean films won the Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor awards.
Iranian director Talhmineh Milani's film The Unwanted Woman, a film about an Iranian widow helping a murderer escape from police, won the Best Director, Best Film and Best Screenplay awards.
The awards have further established Milani as one of the most influential directors in Asia, despite the Iranian government's suppression of her films at home.
Being a woman director, Milani has focused on the plight of Iranian women in her often controversial films and has taken risks, leading to her arrest by the Revolutionary Council in 2001. She has even been threatened with execution.
Taiwanese films won Best Supporting Actress and Best Animation.
The award ceremony was held at Taipei County's Multi-Function Gymnasium near Taipei.
The Asia-Pacific Film Festival was launched in Tokyo, Japan, in 1954 to promote cultural exchange in the region. Since then, it has been held every year by one of the festival's 21 member countries.
A total of 54 films from 13 countries and regions took part in the 51st festival. The opening film was Little Fish from Australia and the closing film was Cafe Satareh from Iran.
The Asia-Pacific Film Festival has stolen the limelight from Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival, the award ceremony for which will be held Saturday evening in Taipei.
The Golden Horse Film Festival is the world's largest film festival for films made by Chinese directors and offers a rare opportunity for directors and movie stars from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere to show up on the same stage.
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