TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Malaysian-born actress and Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh has been named Asian Filmmaker of the Year at this year's Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). The annual award recognizes Asian film professionals and organizations that make "exceptional contributions to the advancement of Asian cinema," according to The Straits Time and Variety.
The award will be presented during the opening ceremony of BIFF scheduled for October 6 at the Busan Cinema Center.
Michelle Yeoh helped redefine Asian cinema by "challenging the patriarchal conventions of the action genre" through her debut in Yes, Madam! (1985) and the subsequent iconic titles like Police Story 3: Supercop (1992) and Wing Chun (1994).
Announcing the award on Thursday, BIFF hailed Yeoh's "remarkable versatility" and "consistently nuanced performances" that prove how far an actor can expand the "imaginative horizons of cinema."
Her recent works, including Crazy Rich Asians (2018), her gig with Marvel for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and Wicked (2024), further cemented her global acclaim.
Yeoh's phenomenal performance in the A24 black comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) led to her historic Best Actress win at the Oscar, becoming the first Asian to win in the category.
Her role as Evelyn Wang in the movie also landed her top honors at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes during that awards season.
Earlier this year, the 64-year-old actress was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlinale, which paid tribute to the lifetime achievement of cinema's leading figures.
Yeoh first attended BIFF in 2002, for which she appeared for the Pusan Promotion Plan, now known as the Asian Project Market. This year marks her return to the festival for the first time since 2011.
Over the years, several of Yeoh's films have screened at the Busan International Film Festival, including Far North (2007), Reign of Assassins (2010), The Lady (2011), Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy (2018)—the closing film for the festival that year—and Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).
This year, the BIFF will screen three films handpicked by Yeoh herself for a Special Program in Focus, including Reign Of Assassins, Everything Everywhere All At Once and the short film Sandiwara (2026). Her latest feature, It's My Time (2026), will also be screened.
First established in 2003, the Asian Filmmaker of the Year previously gone to Iranian director Jafar Panahi in 2025, Japanese filmmaker Kurosawa Kiyoshi in 2024, and Hong Kong stars Chow Yun Fat in 2023 and Tony Chiu-Wai Leung in 2022.
The Busan International Film Festival this year will run through October 15, at multiple venues across the South Korean city.
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