John Arcilla, 'Heneral Luna' gets Asian Film Awards nods

MANILA, Philippines —  The historical movie "Heneral Luna" is the only movie from the Philippines to receive nominations at the 10th Asian Film Awards.

"Heneral Luna" lead actor John Arcilla is a Best Actor nominee.

He will go against Donnie Yeng of Hong Kong (Ip Man), Masatoshi Nagase of Japan (An), Xiaogang Feng of China (Mr. Six) and Byung-Hun Lee of South Korea (Inside Men) for the award.

The movie also got nominations in the Best Costume Design and Best Production Design categories.

"Heneral Luna," however, failed to get a Best Film nomination.

The Chinese cinematic kung fu masterpiece "The Assassin" led the Asian Film Awards nominations with nine nods.

The Asian Film Awards marks its 10th anniversary this year. The Asian Film Awards Academy hands out the awards as part of an effort to promote budding filmmakers in the region and enhance collaboration among regional film industries.

The academy said it received 1,600 submissions from 32 countries, narrowed to 36 films from nine Asian countries competing for the top honors. Hong Kong director Jonnie To leads the jury.

Jury member Sean Lau Ching-wan said he's most looking forward to watching great performances. "I think I'll be mainly looking at actor's performances and watch who bring the characters to life," he said.

The awards will be handed out in Macau on March 17. - with the Associated Press