Han Ji-min accepts Trailblazer Award in Busan
Han Ji-min has accepted The Hollywood Reporter's Trailblazer Award in Busan, in the first presentation of the honour in Korea.
The presentation took place during the 31st Busan International Film Festival, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. It puts a Korean star at the centre of an award previously given to American, British and Japanese screen names.
The award was handed over during American Film Night, a joint gala staged by The Hollywood Reporter and the Motion Picture Association, the trade body for Hollywood studios and streaming services. The event was held on the 33rd floor of the Park Hyatt Busan, overlooking the port city.
THR Asia bureau chief Patrick Brzeski presented the trophy to Han. Urmila Venugopalan, the association's Asia-Pacific president and managing director, gave the welcoming remarks to open the night.
Past recipients of the Trailblazer Award include Jean Smart, David Oyelowo, Eva Longoria, Matt Bomer, America Ferrera, Tadanobu Asano and Takehiro Hira. The list spans network television, film and, more recently, Japanese cinema.
Han built her reputation across two decades of film and television drama. Her turn in Miss Baek (2018), as a woman trying to protect an abused child, earned her best actress honours at the 2018 Blue Dragon Film Awards and the 2019 Baeksang Arts Awards. She won twice for one role.
Next she will star opposite Lee Byung-hun in The Koreans, Disney+'s Korean reimagining of The Americans, the US drama about deep-cover agents. In the new version, the pair play North Korean spies living undercover in South Korea during the 1990s, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
What makes this stand out is the setting. Busan has long been the meeting point for Asian cinema and the wider market, and an American awards night inside the festival underlines that exchange. For fans, this means Han arrives at her next big series with fresh international attention.
