‘Pachinko’ Wins 2023 Independent Spirit Award For Best Ensemble

The first season of Pachinko, Apple TV’s Korean language drama was nominated for two awards at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards. The awards were presented on March 4 in Santa Monica, California.

Pachinko was nominated for Best New Scripted Series, but lost to The Bear. However, it did win the award for Best Ensemble Cast. The multi-national cast includes Soji Arai, Jin Ha, Jeong In-ji, Kim Min-ha, Kaho Minami, Lee Min-ho, Steve Sanghyun Noh, Anna Sawai, Jimmi Simpson and Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung. The series was also filmed in three languages reflecting the story’s locales.

Pachinko is based on the 2017 bestselling novel of the same name by Korean American author Min-jin Lee. The storyline follows the life of Sunja, a poor girl born in Korea. Sunja falls in love with the wrong person, someone she can’t marry. After marrying a minister, she follows him to Japan, where she and other Korean immigrants encounter brutal discrimination. Despite facing racism and dealing with tragedy, the resilient Sunja finds ways to help her family survive. Young Sunja is played in the series by newcomer Kim Min-ha and older Sunja is played by Youn Yuh-jung.

None of the cast could attend the ceremony, because they are currently filming the second season of Pachinko. Lee previously recorded an acceptance speech. The first season of the TV drama consisted of eight episodes and does not follow the book in a linear fashion. So, it’s not yet known which parts of the book the second season will highlight.

Pachinko’s first season was directed by Korean American filmmakers Justin Chon and Kogonada. Kogonada was also nominated for two film awards at the Independent Spirit Awards. Both nominations were for his film After Yang, which starred Colin Farrell, Haley Lu Richardson and Justin H. Min. Kogonada lost the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for the film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Pachinko has already garnered multiple awards for cinematography, writing and performances, including a Critics Choice Award for Best Series In A Foreign Language, a Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Series Long Form, and an American Film Institute Award for being one of the year’s top ten programs.

Soo Hugh, the creator and executive producer of Pachinko, won a Humanitas Prize for her work on the drama. Executive producers include Michael Ellenberg, Lindsey Springer, Theresa Kang-Lowe, Richard Middleton, Justin Chon and Kogonada. Co-executive producers include Dani Gorin, Sebastian Lee, David Kim and Ethan Kuperberg.