‘Moving’ & ’12:12: The Day’ Emerge As Big Winners At Korea’s Baeksang Arts Awards

Disney+ series Moving and historical action film 12:12: The Day took home the top prizes at the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards, one of Korea‘s most prestigious entertainment award ceremonies.

After receiving the most number of nominations (seven) in the television category, Moving took home the Grand Prize, with writer Kangfull receiving the Best Screenplay award and actor Lee Jungha winning Best New Actor.

The sci-fi series stars the likes of Rye Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo and Zo In-sung. Based on a webtoon of the same name, it follows a trio of teenage high school students who discover they have superpowers. IT has always won a glut of prizes at the 2023 Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards.

Made with a budget of around $18M, 12:12: The Day swept up the Grand Prize and Best Film awards, with Hwang Jung-min scoring a Best Actor win. Set in 1979 just after the assassination of Korean President Park Chung-hee, the film follows the power struggle among various military factions during a violent coup. The film was Korea’s highest-grossing film last year, racking up $97M at the box office.

Jang Jae-hyun won the Best Director prize for his breakout supernatural hit Connecting. The film received the highest number of nominations at the Baeksang Arts Awards this year, with eight nominations. Connecting is also currently Korea’s highest-grossing film for 2024, with just over $97M at the box office globally so far. The film’s cast members Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun were crowned Best Actress and Best New Actor respectively in the Baeksang Arts Awards’ film category.

Jason Yu took home the Best Screenplay prize for black comedy thriller Sleepwhich first premiered in the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival last year.

Domestic Korean broadcaster MBC took home several major awards in the television category. The station’s historical romance My Dearest won the Best Drama prize as well as the Best Actor prize for Namkoong Min. Lee Hanee won Best Actress for her role in the historical drama Knight Flower.

Han Dongwook took home the Best Director honors for helming Disney+’s The Worst Of Evil.