Nora Aunor, Eddie Garcia win international awards

VETERAN actor Eddie Garcia and Superstar Nora Aunor received acting trophies during the recently concluded 7th Asian Film Awards.

Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Monday evening, Garcia received the Best Actor accolade for the comedy-drama "Bwakaw," while Aunor bagged the Best Actress award for the film "Thy Womb".

Garcia went head-to-head against top Asian actors such as Joseph Chang from Taiwan, Choi Min-sik of South Korea, Tony Leung Ka-fai of Hong Kong, and Liu Ye from Mainland China/Hong Kong.

Directed by Jun Lana, "Bwakaw" is an official entry in the 2012 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. Garcia also bagged the Best Actor trophy in the 55th Asia Pacific Film Festival for the same film.

Meanwhile, Aunor emerged as the winner against Asian actresses Cho Min-Soo from South Korea, Golshifteh Farahani of Afghanistan, Gwei Lun-Mei of Taiwan and Hao Lei of Mainland China.

Aunor also received the best acting trophies in the 6th Asian Pacific Screen Awards, 2012 Metro Manila Film Festival for same movie, which also bagged three awards at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.

Here's the complete list of winners at the 7th Asian Film Awards:

Best Film: Mystery (Mainland China)
Best Director: Kitano Takeshi ("Outrage Beyond," Japan)
Best Actor: Eddie Garcia ("Bwakaw," Philippines)
Best Actress: Nora Aunor ("Thy Womb," Philippines)
Best Newcomer: Qi Xi ("Mystery," Mainland China)
Best Supporting Actor: Nawazuddin Siddiqui ("Talaash: The Answer Lies Within," India)
Best Supporting Actress: Watanabe Makiko ("Capturing Dad," Japan)
Best Screenwriter: Mei Feng, Yu Fan, Lou Ye ("Mystery," Mainland China)
Best Cinematographer: Touraj Aslani ("Rhino Season," Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey)
Best Production Designer: Bahman Ghobadi & Daryoosh Peiro ("Rhino Season," Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey)
Best Composer: Pritam Chakraborty ("Barfi!" India)
Best Editor: Kusakabe Mototaka ("The Kirishima Thing," Japan)
Best Visual Effects: Farbod Khoshtinat ("Rhino Season," Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey)
Best Costume Designer: Man Lim-Chung ("The Silent War," Mainland China/Hong Kong)

The Excellence in Asian Cinema Award was also handed to Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng during the awards night.

The Asian Film Awards is an annual event organized by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society to honor and recognize the best films in Asian Cinema. (Sunnex)