Malaysian Oscar winner Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh’s trophy shelf gets busier as Busan rolls out the red carpet for the Asian Filmmaker of the Year at its 2026 International Film Festival from October 6 to 15. — Bernama file pic By Malay Mail First Published: Thursday, 06 Aug 2026 4:58 PM MYT BUSAN, Aug 6 — Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh is adding yet another glittering career honour to her already groaning trophy shelf.The Busan International Film Festival has named the Oscar winner its Asian Filmmaker of the Year.Yeoh will receive the honour at the festival’s opening ceremony on October 6 at the Busan Cinema Center.The prize has been handed out every year since 2003 to celebrate exceptional contributions to Asian cinema.Yeoh has more than earned it across four decades of boundary-breaking work.She first exploded onto the scene in Hong Kong martial arts classics like Yes, Madam!, Police Story 3: Supercop and Wing Chun.Those roles helped rewrite the rules for women in action movies before she went fully global with Tomorrow Never Dies and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.Her Hollywood run then delivered Crazy Rich Asians, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the Wicked films.It all peaked with Everything Everywhere All at Once, which made her the first Asian performer to win the best actress Oscar.This Busan gong caps a banner year of career tributes for the star.In February she became the first Asian woman to receive the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.Fellow Oscar winner Sean Baker presented that award and later dropped Sandiwara, an 11-minute short he wrote, directed and shot on an iPhone in a Penang night market.Yeoh plays five intertwining characters in the Self-Portrait-financed film, which Baker called a love letter to both his star and her home country Malaysia.For Busan, Yeoh has personally picked a three-film showcase of her work.It includes Sandiwara, Everything Everywhere All at Once and the 2010 wuxia favourite Reign of Assassins.The festival will also screen It’s My Time, her first Chinese-language feature since the Oscar.Directed by Bai Xue and released in China last month, the feel-good drama sees Yeoh as a seventy-something who discovers a late-life talent for competitive speedcubing.Fresh from her final turn as Madame Morrible in Wicked: For Good, she next stars in Prime Video’s Blade Runner 2099.Past Asian Filmmaker of the Year recipients include Jafar Panahi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai.The 31st Busan International Film Festival runs from October 6 to 15, with Pachinko star Kim Minha hosting the opening night where Yeoh will be celebrated.