2024 Blue Dragon Awards: Winners, Nominees, Highlights & More

Ra Mi-ran, Yoo Ah-in

Welcome to the ~~2020~~ 2024 Blue Dragon Awards. The 41st ceremony was originally set to take place late last year, hence the big graphics that say 2020, but organizers opted to postpone the ceremony due to concerns over COVID-19.

It was a semi-socially distanced arrangement, with attendees getting their temperatures checked and being seated behind clear dividers–but no masks for photos. (I can’t say I totally understand but I’m not an event planner/epidemiologist, so what do I know?) In what’s become a bit of a tradition, Kim Hye-soo and Yoo Yeon-seok returned to host for the fourth consecutive time.

Unlike 2019 when Parasite swept the awards, there was a wide spread of winners across categories and the political thriller The Man Standing Next won Best Picture this year. Ra Mi-ran scooped Best Actress for her role as a politician who’s lost her moral compass in the comedy Honest Candidate. Best Actor went to Yoo Ah-in for his work in the indie crime film, Voice of Silence. He actually bagged a second award that night, as he and Jung Yumi both received the Popularity Award.

Jung Yumi, Yoo Ah-in

Ra Mi-ran’s acceptance speech was a lot like Honest Candidate, funny and moving. She held back tears as she spoke, “To be honest, I was grateful at even being nominated since the film is a comedy. So why did you give me this prize?” She continued, “At the 34th Blue Dragon Awards, I won Best Supporting Actress and I joked during my acceptance speech ‘Next time, I’ll meet you as Best Actress’ and now I’ve actually won after being nominated for the first time. I’m not sure how this happened, but I think maybe the laughs we gave audiences with this film carried a lot of meaning since life was so difficult last year…I can hardly believe it, a comedy film won at the Blue Dragon Awards. I’m so thrilled.”

For Yoo Ah-in, this is his second Blue Dragon Best Actor Award, (the first was for his 2015 sageuk Sado) and the role he played in Voice of Silence had some unique challenges as he didn’t have a single line of dialogue. As he accepted his award, he acknowledged his acting sunbaes, “I’ve truly learned a lot from my sunbaes who are here today, you inspired me. I think of you as people who’ve looked out for me and enabled me to keep dreaming as an actor. I’d like to take this moment to tell you I’m deeply thankful.”

His acceptance speech was on the long side, and he even poked fun at himself for rambling, “I’m doing it again. But if I’m not weird then who will be? It’s up to me.” He wrapped up his speech by acknowledging Hong Eui-jung (winner of the New Director Award), “I was so happy to work with someone who knows what she wants to do with her films. I’m ready to be used as an actor, anywhere by anyone. Use me to your heart’s content. I’ll continue to live as an actor.”

In the supporting categories, Esom was awarded Supporting Actress for the dramedy Samjin Company English Class. Supporting Actor went to Park Jung-min for the dark action film Deliver Us from Evil. He got personal in his speech and he spoke about his friend, the late comedian Park Ji-sun, as he accepted his award.

After thanking his costars and director, Park Jung-min said that if he could only thank one person right now, it would be Park Ji-sun. “While I was filming [Deliver Us from Evil] there was one friend who always asked ‘Are you okay?’” He teared up as he explained, “I haven’t been able to let her go yet. I wish I could tell her that I’m sorry I can’t ask ‘Are you okay?’ if I win an award, and that I’ll work hard and do my best as I act so that noona won’t be embarrassed while looking down on me from above.”

The full list of winners is below.

41st Blue Dragon Award winners

WINNERS LIST

Best Picture: The Man Standing Next
Best Director: Im Dae-hyung (Moonlit Winter)
Best Actor: Yoo Ah-in (Voice of Silence)
Best Actress: Ra Mi-ran (Honest Candidate)
Supporting Actor: Park Jung-min (Deliver Us from Evil)
Supporting Actress: Esom (Samjin Company English Class)
New Actor: Yoo Teo (Vertigo)
New Actress: Kang Mal-geum (Lucky Chan-sil)
New Director: Hong Eui-jung (Voice of Silence)

Lighting: Deliver Us from Evil, Hong Kyung-pyo
Editing: Beasts Clawing at Straws, Han Mi-yeon
Music: Samjin Company English Class, Dalpalan
Art Direction: Samjin Company English Class, Bae Jung-yoon
Technical Effects: Ashfall, Jin Jong-hyun (Visual effects)
Screenplay: Im Dae-hyung (Moonlit Winter)

Short Film Award: The Thread, Lee Na-yeon, Jo Min-jae
Box Office Audience Award: Ashfall
Popularity Award: Jung Yumi, Yoo Ah-in

Esom, Park Jung-min