2023 Seoul International Drama Awards Winners Revealed

The Seoul Drama Awards Organizing Committee has unveiled the 12 winners of the 18th Seoul International Drama Awards.

Best TV series awards were given to the Chinese drama Meet Yourself, about a woman who takes a break from the big city and heads to a remote village that turns out to be less idyllic than she imagined, and the Greek thriller Act Like You’re Asleep, delving into the psyche of a teacher and his quest for justice for the murder of his wife.

Meet Yourself is represented by China Huace Media Group and stars Xian Li (Go Go Squid!, Sword Dynasty). Act Like You’re Asleep is represented by ERT and stars Spiros Papadopoulos (Jamaica, Gi kai ouranos).

Tencent Video’s The Long Season (China) and SLL’s Reborn Rich (South Korea) both won best miniseries awards. The Long Season sees a lost father, a dead lover and old friends meet up again to discover the truth about an unsolved mystery that has traveled through time. Reborn Rich follows as a loyal secretary serving a powerful family is brutally murdered by the powerful family he serves, but comes back to life in 1987 and finds that he has been reborn as the youngest son of the powerful family.

Best TV movie awards went to All3Media International’s Mayflies (the U.K.) and Perro Azul’s Belascoarán, PI (Mexico). Mayflies centers on longtime friends Jimmy and Tully, whose friendship ignited in 1986 through music, films and rebellion. Thirty years later, Tully informs Jimmy he is dying and asks for a favor that tests their bond to the limit. Belascoarán, PI, meanwhile, follows Héctor Belascoarán Shayne as he faces a case that drags him into becoming an investigator and is later put to the test when three cases that seem like easy matters get mixed up in his head.

Stéphanie Murat and Aude Marcle of The Fragile Colossus from France won best director and best screenwriter, respectively. Nima Javidi of the Iranian drama The Actor also won best screenwriter. Wei Fan from The Long Season was awarded best actor, while Nina Ellen Ødegård of the Norwegian series Afterglow and Suzy of the Korean drama ANNA won best actress awards.

Also, seven additional winners from the international invitation category were revealed. For the special prize in honor of the spirit of humanity, the Norwegian drama Cammo won as the best program dealing with social issues. It tells the story of a social media influencer who gets a job as the private secretary for a woman with Down syndrome.

The SDA 2023 awards ceremony will be held at KBS Hall at 6 p.m. on September 21. The grand prize and the golden bird prize will be revealed at the ceremony.