'Smugglers' wins Best Picture at 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards

Actors Kim Hye-soo, left, and Yoo Yeon-seok pose for a photo at the red carpet of the 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards held at the KBS Hall in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Friday. [YONHAP]

At this year's 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards, which came to an end just before midnight on Friday, "Smugglers" took home the honor of Best Picture.

"I would like to thank the judges who gave the 'Smugglers' team this huge award," said Kang Hye-jung, CEO of Filmmaker R&K, the production company behind the film. Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, "Smugglers" is about women divers of Korea, known as haenyeo, who get involved in schemes to smuggle goods through the ocean in the 1970s.

"Concrete Utopia," "Smugglers," "The Night Owl" and "Cobweb," along with "Next Sohee," were up for nomination in the Best Picture category at this year's Blue Dragon Film Awards.

The biggest awards this year were evenly divided among the nominees that ran for Best Picture.

"Concrete Utopia" won two of the top awards — Best Director for Um Tae-hwa and Best Actor for Lee Byung-hun. Actor Jung Yu-mi of "Sleep" was awarded Best Actress. Zo In-sung won Best Supporting Actor for "Smugglers," and Jeon Yeo-been grabbed the Best Supporting Actress for "Cobweb." "The Night Owl" won the Best New Director award for An Tae-jin.

Although the indie film "Next Sohee" had been nominated for Best Picture, the winners of the main categories at the Blue Dragon Film Awards were mostly big-budget blockbusters. "Next Sohee" managed to take home Best Screenplay.

While "Smugglers" took the Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Score and Best New Actress awards — for Go Min-si — it competed closely against "Concrete Utopia" which also took home three trophies.

"Concrete Utopia," starring Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-jun and Park Bo-young in the lead roles, is about a group of survivors who gather at the fictional Imperial Palace Apartment, the only building that has stood intact after a huge earthquake has devastated most of Seoul.

"I want to share this award with my wife and my second child, who will be joining us next month," said Lee in his acceptance speech for Best Actor for "Concrete Utopia." Lee is expecting a second child with fellow actor and wife Lee Min-jung.

Though the nominated films, cast actors and directors are usually the stars of the night, this year's awards ceremony was the night for actor Kim Hye-soo, who has been hosting the Blue Dragon Film Awards for the past 30 years.

Kim, the event's host since 1993, announced that she will hand over her position to somebody else after this year's 44th edition.

After all the awards were given out on Friday, actor Jung Woo-sung made a surprise appearance and gave Kim an honorary award, titled the Blue Dragon Award, to Kim.

"I started hosting the Blue Dragon Film Awards with the hope of following the ins and outs of the film industry and being a part of its development 31 years ago," said Kim in her acceptance speech. "Hosting the ceremony has become an end-of-the-year ritual over the years, and it feels like a part of me. I do believe that I have done my best as a woman host for the awards, and I won't look back."

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]