Derek Tsang, Michael Hui and Kara Wai fly flag for Hong Kong in Asian Film Awards; city misses out on best picture nod again
Hong Kong actors and filmmakers have a chance of winning all the major prizes except the biggest one as the Asian Film Awards ceremony returns to the city
No Hong Kong films are up for the best picture prize in the Asian Film Awards for the third year in a row.
The five nominees for best film are supernatural horror-thriller The Wailing (South Korea); sprawling espionage drama The Age of Shadows (South Korea); the family drama/suspense thriller Harmonium, the Jury Prize winner in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes film festival; the darkly comic Taiwanese road movie Godspeed ; and Chinese director Feng Xiaogang’s social satire I Am Not Madame Bovary .
The last Hong Kong film to be nominated for best picture in the awards was Wong Kar-wai’s martial arts drama The Grandmaster, which went on to win the prize at the 2014 ceremony.
Hong Kong is better represented in other major categories, with Derek Tsang nominated for best director for his solo directorial debut Soul Mate , Michael Hui (Godspeed) and Richie Jen ( Trivisa ) for best actor, Kara Wai ( Happiness ) for best actress, Lam Suet (Trivisa) for best supporting actor, and Elaine Jin (Mad World) and Lynn Xiong ( See You Tomorrow ) for best supporting actress.
Having been hosted by Macau for the past few years, the awards – which are supported financially by Create Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Film Development Fund – are belatedly returning to Hong Kong, the city in which they were first held, with the awards ceremony taking place at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on March 21. Celebrated Chinese director Jia Zhangke will serve as this year’s jury president.