Also in attendance at The Banquet press conference was veteran Chinese character actor Ge You. The award-winning actor deserves another prize just for making it to Hong Kong considering he is afraid of flying. As a result, last week Ge took a 25-hour train trip from Beijing to Hong Kong.

'Taking trains actually has many advantages compared to flights,' he said. 'For example, I can have a deep conversation with people for hours, which I often don't have time to do in daily life.'

Due to his fear, the actor skipped the movie's promotional event in Cannes in May. However, Ge will confront his anxiety head-on next month when The Banquet debuts at the Venice Film Festival, showing out of competition.