**FREE** PH Awards: SQUID GAME: S2

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Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organization proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who made history at the 74th Primetime Emmys® becoming the first Asian to win Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, once again helms the series as director, writer, and producer. Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo reprise their roles from Season 1 with an impeccable list of new cast members including Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo Yu-ri, and Won Ji-an rounding out the ensemble of colorful characters in the new season. (Description courtesy of Netflix)

Director Hwang Dong-hyuk first gained international recognition with his short film Miracle Mile, which follows the life of a young adopted Korean man. He then garnered critical acclaim for his direction across various genres, exploring profound themes in films such as his debut feature My Father, as well as Silenced, Miss Granny, and The Fortress. Director Hwang’s first series, Squid Game, became a global phenomenon, with its story of a modern society fraught with extreme competition told in the context of nostalgia for childhood games. Upon its release, the series amassed 1.65 billion viewing hours within its first 28 days and remains Netflix’s most popular series of all time. Squid Game earned 14 nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy® Awards, winning six, including “Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series” for Director Hwang. This historic win made him the first Asian recipient in the category, the first native Korean winner, and the first to win for a non-English language series. The second season of Squid Game was nominated for “Best Drama Series” at the 82nd Golden Globe® Awards, won “Best Foreign Language Series” at the 30th Critics Choice Awards, and is currently Netflix’s third most popular series of all time.

Editor Nam Na-young established Korea’s first negative editing studio, specializing in film negative editing. Since her debut in film editing with Wet Dreams in 2002, she has worked on over 100 films to date. Through collaborations with some of Korea’s most renowned directors—Kim Jee-woon, Hwang Dong-hyuk, Ryoo Seung-wan, and Kang Hyung-chul—she has earned recognition for her distinctive editing. Her notable works include The Good, the Bad, the Weird, I Saw the Devil, Sunny, The Fortress, Extreme Job, and Space Sweepers. She won Best Editing at the 5th Asian Film Awards for I Saw the Devil, received Editing Awards at the 48th and 49th Grand Bell Awards for Sunny and Masquerade, respectively, and was honored with the Best Editing award at the 40th Blue Dragon Film Awards for Swing Kids. Nam Na-young made her first foray into editing a series with Be Melodramatic, and Squid Game marked her second series project. With Squid Game Season 1, she was nominated for the 72nd ACE Eddie Awards and made history as the first editor of a non-English-language production to be nominated for the Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series category at the 74th Primetime Emmy® Awards. Nam Na-young’s editing is known for striking a dynamic balance between genre-driven excitement and character-centered storytelling, playing a key role in elevating the immersive power of her projects.