‘All We Imagine As Light’ Wins Top Prize At 2025 Asian Film Awards

On the evening of March 16th, the 18th Annual Asian Film Awards were held at the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong. All We Imagine as Light, the Indian drama following the daily lives of two women living in Mumbai, won the top prize, winning Best Picture. “Thank you so much to my lead actors — three incredible artists and human beings. They are the ones who made this film what it is,” the film’s director, Payal Kapadia, said as she received the award on stage. She continued, saying “I’m so happy that we could end our journey here in Hong Kong, a city that has meant a lot to me, watching the amazing films from this city over the years”.

The Best Director prize went to Japanese filmmaker Yoshida Daihachi for Teki Cometh, an atmospheric character study of a university professor, which also won top prizes when it premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival back in November. Best Actor went to Hong Kong actor Sean Lau for his lead role in the family drama, Papa. In his speech, the actor thanked his fellow actors who portrayed his family in Papa, as well as shouting out the awards’ host city of Hong Kong, saying “I’m very happy because Papa is a Hong Kong-made movie”

Best Actress went to Shahana Goswami for her lead role in Santosh. The film was directed by first-time filmmaker Sandhya Suri, who also won the Best New Filmmaker award. In her speech, Goswami praised the AFA academy, while also, most intriguingly, thanking herself. “I’d also like to thank myself,” Goswami said in her speech, “I feel like I’m always under-confident and I never give myself enough credit, so I want to thank the Asian Film Awards Academy for giving me this vote of confidence”

Best Supporting Actor went to veteran Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-Sheng for his performance in the mystery thriller Stranger Eyes, which also won Best Editing. “Although I’ve won a lot of best actor awards, I’m getting older so I guess I can only try for best supporting actor now”, quipped Lee in his speech.

After receiving a whopping 11 nominations, the supernatural thriller Exuma, which also became the highest grossing film of last year in South Korea, ultimately only went home with two awards: Best Costume Design and Best Visual Effects.

More details about the 2025 Asian Film Awards, as well as a full list of winners and nominations, can be found through an article posted by The Hollywood Reporter.