Daejong Film Awards to be held behind closed doors next month

SEOUL, May 22 (Yonhap) -- The 56th Daejong Film Awards, a major South Korean film awards ceremony, will take place behind closed doors next month following a more than three-month delay stemming from the coronavirus outbreak, its organizers said Friday.

The event's organizing committee announced that comedian Lee Hwi-jae and fashion model Han Hye-jin will emcee this year's event, known as the Grand Bell Awards in English, to be held on June 3 at Grand Walker Hill Seoul, in eastern Seoul, without spectators.

For this year's event, five movies -- "Parasite," "Extreme Job," "House of Hummingbird," "Innocent Witness" and "Forbidden Dream" -- have been nominated in the Best Film category.

Five directors will compete in the Best Director category, including Kim Bora of "House of Hummingbird," Bong Joon-ho of "Parasite," and Lee Byeong-heon of "Extreme Job."

The Oscar-winning black comedy "Parasite" earned the most nominations, with 11, followed by "Extreme Job," "House of Hummingbird" and "Svaha: The Sixth Finger" with eight nods.

The annual awards ceremony was originally set for Feb. 25 at the Peace Hall of Kyunghee University in Seoul, but was postponed in early February due to COVID-19 fears.

brk@yna.co.kr
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