by Nathaniel R
THE KING'S WARDEN won three prizes and is a huge hit in South Korea.
You might remember last year that we discussed that South Korea has a robust film awards calendar, with the first awards show of each year in May! I'm sharing it despite being well over a month llate because my number one film of 2025 No Other Choice took the big prize. The Baeksang Arts Awards do more than film -- they're an all around arts awards so they also honor theater and television. Eligibilty runs from April through March each year so it's a mix of late 2025 and early 2026 entertainments. As for the films some were eligible for last year's Oscar submission (No Other Choice prevailed obviously) and some are eligible to become South Korea's Oscar submission this year... though a lot of their competition has not yet opened.
The movie winners and nominations (and where you can watch them) --and a short epilogue on theater and tv -- are after the jump if you're interested...
BEST FILM
NO OTHER CHOICE still underrewarded despite another big win here.
- The Final Semester (3 noms | 0 wins) A drama about a student in his final year of vocational high school and an internship he hopes to get. Not eligible for Oscar submission this year as it was released last September in Korea.
- Good News (6 noms | 1 win) Theoretically eligible to be the Korean Oscar submission though just barely as it was released in October of 2025. [STREAMING ON NETFLIX]
- The King's Warden (8 noms | 3 wins) This historical drama about a king in exile in the 15th century was a massive hit in South Korea and could theoretically be their Oscar submission for 2026. It won the most awards.
- ★ No Other Choice (7 noms | 2 wins) South Korea's Oscar submission for 2025. You know we think it should have been up for Best International Feature Film (among other prizes) and it did very well in my own awards. At least it made the Oscar finals but voters are still quite resistant to Korean cinema despite the artistry and popularity of so much of this national cinema. It's a real shame that only one (Parasite) has ever been nominated! [STREAMING ON HULU]
- The World of Love (6 noms | 2 wins) A drama about an angry 17 year-old girl. While it played at TIFF in 2025 it is theoretically eligible to be Korea's Oscar submission this year though just barely -- it opened after shortly after last year's cut-off eligibility period.
GRAND PRIZE
- ★ Yoo Hae-jin in The King's Warden
Yoo Hae-jin, a popular 56 year old character actor, plays the titular king in exile. He was also nominated for (but lost) Best Actor. The Grand Prize is for a single person each year - not always an actor. And there aren't nominees so it must be something like a Honorary?
GUCCI IMPACT AWARD
- The Final Semester
- ★ The King's Warden
- Pavane - Three lonely souls become friends in a department store [STREAMING ON NETFLIX]
- People and Meat - This is a drama about three elderly people on a mission to dine out without paying a cent all around South Korea.
- The World of Love
BEST DIRECTOR
- Good News - Byun Sung-hyun
- The King's Warden - Jang Hang-jun
- No Other Choice - Park Chan-wook
- Once We Were Us -Kim Do-young
- ★ The World of Love -- Yoon Ga-eun
BEST NEW DIRECTOR
- ★ 3670 - Park Joon-ho
- Noise - Kim Soo-jin [Available to rent in some countries]
- The Price of Goodbye - Kwon Yong-jae [Streaming in Korea but not in the US]
- When This Summer is Over - Jang Byung-ki
- Your Letter - Kim Yong Hwan [Streaming in Korea but not in the US]
3670 is a gay drama about a North Korean defector venturing out in South Korea's gay community. I've wanted to see this one for a year now. When will it ever be available in the US? It's not eligible for Oscar submission as it was released before the cut-off for last year's race.
BEST ACTRESS
- Go Ah-sung - Pavane
You saw Go Ah-sung as a child star in the Korean monster movie classic The Host (2006). She's now 23 and the star of a drama about three lonely souls becoming friends in a department store. [Streaming on Netflix] - Han Ye-ri - Spring Night
A broken-spirits drama about an alcoholic woman and an arthritic man she befriends at a wedding party.[Streaming only in South Korea] - Lee Hye-young - The Old Woman and the Knife
Lee holds the distinction of being the only Actress from this recent movie cycle to be nominated for Best Actress at ALL three of the major film awards show in Korea: Blue Dragon, Baeksang Arts, and Buil Awards. [Available to rent online] - ★ Moon Ga-young - Once We Were Us
Moon Ga-young headlines this romantic drama about a man and a woman who are reunited a decade after beginning a relationship on a bus trip to their hometown. This is a remake of a Chinese film called Us and Them (2018). - Son Ye-jin - No Other Choice
Excellent performance though in the US this would have clearly been labelled a supporting performance as the wife of Lee Byung-hung's desperate unemployed manager. [Streaming on Hulu]
BEST ACTOR
And the Baeksang for BEST ACTOR goes to...
- Hong Kyung - Good News
- Koo Kyo-hwan - Once We Were Us
- Lee Byung-hun - No Other Choice
- ★ Park Jeong-min - The Ugly
- Yoo Hae-jin - The King's Warden
Park Jeong-min seemed genuinely surprised to win this one. He shouldn't have been given that it's a dual role playing both father and son and those can be catnip to voters whatever the country or organization. For some reason this is referred to as The Face in videos of this win though the English language title for the film is The Ugly.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Jang Hye-jin - The World of Love
- Jeon Mi-do - The King's Warden
- Shin Hyun-been - The Ugly
- ★ Shin Se-kyung - Humint
- Yeom Hye-ran - No Other Choice
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Lee Sung-Min wins for the oft-drunk primary target in "NO OTHER CHOICE"
- Jang Yong - People and Meat
- ★ Lee Sung-min - No Other Choice
- Park Hae-joon - Humint [STREAMING ON NETFLIX]
- Ryoo Seung-bum - Good News
- Yoo Ji-tae - The King's Warden
BEST NEW ACTRESS
- Chae Won-bin - Yadang: The Snitch [Rentable Online]
- Choi Yu-ri - My Daughter is a Zombie [Streaming on Rokuten Viki]
- Shin Eun-soo - Love Untangled [Streaming on Netflix]
- Shin Si-ah - Even if This Love Disappears Tonight [Streaming on Netflix]
- ★ Seo Su-bin - The World of Love
BEST NEW ACTOR
Park Ji-Hoon, a pop star, wins for acting.
- Ahn Hyo-seop - Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy [Rentable online]
- Cho Yoo-hyun - 3670
- Moon Sang-min - Pavane
- ★ Park Ji-hoon - The King's Warden
- Yoo Lee-ha - The Final Semester
BEST SCREENPLAY
- 3670 - Park Joon-ho
- ★ Good News - Byun Sung-hyun & Lee Jin-seong
- People and Meat - Lim Na-moo
- The Ugly - Yeon Sang-ho
- The World of Love - Yoon Ga-eun
BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
- Good News (Editing)
- No Other Choice (Cinematography)
- Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy - (Visual Effects)
- ★ Pavane - (Music)
- The Ugly - (Art Direction) [Rentable online]
THEATER
Kim Junsu wins for the Korean production of 'BEETLEJUICE"Kim Jung-su won Best Musical Performer for the Korean production of "Beetlejuice" while Kim Shin Rok won the Play side of the Performer category for her work in "Prima Facie" which you'll remember also won Jodie Comer both the Olivier Award in 2022 and the Tony Award in 2023 for Best Actress in a Play. The Baeksang Art Awards in the top categories went to "Jellyfish" (Play) and "Arang" (Musical) which is original mythological Korean musical about a king who becomes obsessed with another man's wife who appears to him in a dream.
TELEVISION
The Broadcast awards were spread out (just like the film awards) but the following shows, ALL of which are streaming on Netflix, won multiple prizes:
- "The Dream Life of Mr Kim" (2 prizes) Grand Prize (for the lead actor) and Best Supporting Actor. A workplace comedy based on the novel "The Story of Manager Kim, Who Lives in Seoul and Works at a Large Corporation" by Song Hee-gu
- "You and Everything Else" (2 prizes) Best Drama and Best Screenplay. A drama about two lifelong friends and a cancer diagnosis.
- "Our Unwritten Seoul" (2 prizes) Best Actress and Best Director. This is an identical twins with polar opposite personalities show. The lead actress plays both twins.
Hyun Bin, still on a role, picking up a Best Actor prize yet again...
Other shows that won one prize are also streaming globally on Netflix: "Bon Appetit, Your Majesty" won Best New Actor for Lee Chae-min and "Made in Korea" won Best Actor for Hyun Bin. Hyun Bin is a major star in South Korea (Crash Landing on You, Confidential Assignment) and on quite a roll as of late. He won Best Actor for the historical epic Harbin (streaming on Hulu) this past November at the Blue Dragons and to make the night even more of a triumph his wife won Best Actress for No Other Choice. They were both up for prizes again at the Baeksang Art Awards but only Hyun Bin own this time. You can see a lot of his television work if you have subscriptions to Rokuten Viki and Netflix.