Actor Eddie Garcia and his compatriot, actress Nora Aunor, pose with their trophies after winning the Best Actor and Best Actress awards respectively at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong March 18, 2013. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu (CHINA - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)
The Philippines won big at the 7th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, where Eddie Garcia and Nora Aunor received top honors, including Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively.

Eddie went on stage to accept his award for  playing an ageing gay who takes care of a stray dog in  Jun Lana’s “Bwakaw.”  He also won the People's Choice Best Actor Award, determined through a voting poll in Yahoo! Movies.

He bested four award-winning Asian actors, namely  South Korea's Choi Min Sik (Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time), Hong Kong's Tony Leung (Cold War), China's Liu Ye (The Last Supper) and Taiwan's Joseph Chang (GF*BF).

Nora was also there to receive her award for playing a barren Badjao midwife in Brillante Mendoza’s “Thy Womb.” She bested four other actresses, namely South Korea’s Choi Min Soo (Pieta), Afghanistan’s Golshifteh Farahani (The Patience Stone), Taiwan’s Gwen Lun-Mei (GF*BF) and China’s Hao Lei (Mystery).

Nora was nominated in the People's Choice Best Actress category, but she lost to  Choi Min Soo. Eugene Domingo, last year’s winner, presented the award.
 
The Best Picture award went to “Mystery,” while Kitano Takeshi was named Best Director  for “Outrage Beyond.”

The awards night was held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre  on Monday, March 18.