SINGAPORE - Works by local directors won big at the inaugural ContentAsia Awards livestreamed over Facebook on Friday (Aug 28).

Food Lore (2019), a HBO Asia original anthology series centred on Asian cuisine, took home Best Asian Drama for a Regional/International Market, while Erik Matti, the Filipino director of the first episode of Food Lore, titled Island Of Dreams, was named Best Director of a Scripted TV Programme.

The series is helmed by local filmmaker Eric Khoo (7 Letters, 2015), who serves as showrunner. It won against the likes of cop drama The Bridge (2019 to now), led by Mediacorp actress Rebecca Lim.

Another HBO Asia original - Invisible Stories - about stories from a fictional heartland housing estate in Singapore, won Best Drama Series/Telefilm Made for a Local Asian Market.

The six-part series, which stars names like Golden Horse Award-winning Yeo Yann Yann, was created by Singaporean director Ler Jiyuan. It beat fellow HBO Asia nominee Workers, led by actor Christopher Lee, which premiered earlier this year.

The awards, owned and operated by ContentAsia, a 14-year-old information platform which offers insights into Asia's content environment, has awards for several types of content.

This includes Best Asian Horror Series and even pandemic-related categories like Best Covid-19 Factual Feature and Best Quarantine-themed Drama/Feature/Programme.