'Escape from Mogadishu' leads nominations for 42nd Blue Dragon Film Awards

A scene from the film, “Escape from Mogadishu” / Courtesy of Lotte Entertainment

By Kwak Yeon-soo

The nominations for the 42nd annual Blue Dragon Film Awards were announced Monday with director Ryoo Seung-wan's “Escape from Mogadishu” taking the lead as the most nominated film.

“Escape from Mogadishu,” which drew the highest number of moviegoers among films released this year, received 10 nominations for awards. Based on a true story, the film follows stranded South Korean and North Korean embassy workers who join hands to escape Somalia during the civil war in 1991. Among the 10 nominations were those for Best Picture and Best Director.

Actors Kim Yoon-seok and Zo In-sung were nominated for Best Actor, while Koo Kyo-hwan was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

The film was recently selected to compete for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.

“'Escape from Mogadishu' impresses viewers with quality action and suspense, well combined with the dramatic story of inter-Korean tension and cooperation,” the Korean Film Council said, explaining the reason behind the movie being selected as Korea's Oscar entry this year.

The action blockbuster was also invited to this year's New York Asian Film Festival and Korean Film Festival in Paris as the opening film. It garnered about 3.61million ticket sales in the box office when it was released in July.

A scene from the film, “The Book of Fish” / Courtesy of Megabox Plus M

Right behind “Escape from Mogadishu” was director Lee Joon-ik's “The Book of Fish,” which picked up nine nominations, including one each for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Editing. Lead actors Seol Kyung-gu and Byun Yo-han were both nominated for Best Actor.

The black-and-white historical biopic revolves around the late Joseon era scholar Jeong Yak-jeon (Seol), who writes a book on fish and marine life with the help of a young fisherman named Chang-dae (Byun) while living in exile on Heuksan Island in South Jeolla Province.

The film won several awards this year, including the grand prize at the prestigious Baeksang Awards in May and the best film prize at the Korean Film Critics Association Awards in October.

Netflix's “Space Sweepers” received a total of eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Song Joong-ki, Best Supporting Actor for Jin Sun-kyu and Best Art Direction.

Set in 2092, the sci-fi blockbuster centers on four crew members of a shabby spaceship named The Victory, who scavenge space debris to survive. After their encounter with a mysterious humanoid named Dorothy, which they believe is a weapon of mass destruction, the quartet embarks on a risky deal that leads to unexpected consequences.

The films “Miracle,” “The Day I Died: Unclosed Case” and “The Call” earned six apiece.

The 42nd Blue Dragon Film Awards ceremony will take place Nov. 26 at KBS Hall in Seoul.