List of Winners at the 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards in South Korea

The 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards was held on November 24, 2023, at the KBS Hall in Seoul and was aired live on KBS2 and the KBS Youtube channel.

This awarding ceremony is organized annually by Sports Chosun and hosted by Kim Hye-soo (her last year of hosting the ceremony) and Yoo Yeon-seok.

Smugglers wins Best Picture

How winners are selected?

Blue Dragon Film Award is a popularity award where winners are determined through fan votes. It is not composed of a panel of jury from the industry. The award winners are selected through online voting on the Celeb Champ app.

The hosts: Kim Hye Soo and Yoo Yeon Seok

This year's online voting commenced on November 7, a day after the list of nominees was announced. The Blue Dragon Film Awards recognized only blockbusters and popular movies of high artistic value released during the previous year.

During the selection process, movies that made it to the final list, are screened to the public for free to prepare for the online voting.

The cast of Smugglers: Jo In Sung, Yum Jung Ah, Go Min Si, and Park Jung Min

Smugglers, a crime-thriller film set in the 1970s, emerged as the big winner, taking home four awards out of 12 nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Jo In Sung), Best New Actress (Go Min Si), and Best Music.

Smugglers edged out the critically acclaimed Concrete Utopia for the top prize (Best Picture) which was a bit surprising considering Concrete Utopia just won 10 days ago as Best Picture at the Grand Bell Awards, one of South Korea's oldest film award-giving bodies. Concrete Utopia is South Korea's entry to the Oscar Awards for Best International Film.

Concrete Utopia

Lee Byung Hun wins Best Actor for Concrete Utopia

List of winners:

Best Picture: “Smugglers”
Best Director: Um Tae Hwa (“Concrete Utopia”)
Best Actor: Lee Byung Hun (“Concrete Utopia”)
Best Actress: Jung Yu Mi (“Sleep”)
Best Supporting Actor: Jo In Sung (“Smugglers”)
Best Supporting Actress: Jeon Yeo Been (“Cobweb”)
Best New Actor: Hong Sa Bin (“Hopeless”)
Best New Actress: Go Min Si (“Smugglers”)
Best New Director: Ahn Tae Jin (“The Night Owl”)
Best Screenplay: July Jung (“Next Sohee”)
Best Art Direction: Jeong Yi Jin (“Cobweb”)
Best Music: Jang Ki Ha (“Smugglers”)
Best Technical Achievement: Jin Jong Hyun (“The Moon”)
Popular Star Awards: Jo In Sung, Song Joong Ki, Park Bo Young, Kim Seon Ho
Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Film: “The Roundup: No Way Out”
Best Editing: Kim Sun Min (“The Night Owl”)
Best Cinematography and Lighting: Kim Tae Kyung, Hong Seung Chul (“The Night Owl”)
Best Short Film: Yoo Jae In (“Ghwa the Last Name”)

Congratulations to all the winners!

Red Carpet Appearance