A film not released in China is named best picture by Hong Kong Film Critics Society for third year in a row

Johnnie To production Trivisa lauded by critics, Stephen Chow shares best director prize with newcomer Wong Chun, and Gordon Lam, for Trivisa, and Zhou Dongyu take the acting honours

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Published: 6:01pm, 16 Jan 2017Updated: 6:01pm, 16 Jan 2017

The Johnnie To-produced Trivisa has been voted the best Hong Kong film of 2016 by a panel of local critics, the Hong Kong Film Critics Society announced on Monday.

Co-directed by young filmmakers Frank Hui, Jevons Au and Vicky Wong, the film is – on top of being an excellent crime drama – also a subtle political allegory: bookended by news footage from 1997, Trivisa appears to portray Hong Kong’s drop in standing under Chinese rule through the stories of three notorious criminals. It has not gone on general release in China.

It is the third year in a row that a film not granted wide release in China has come top of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society poll, following Philip Yung’s Port of Call and Fruit Chan’s The Midnight After.

The best director prize was shared by comedy icon Stephen Chow (for Chinese blockbuster The Mermaid and emerging filmmaker Wong Chun, who’s making his feature debut with Mad World. Wong’s mental illness drama, due for a Hong Kong release in March, also won the best script honour for Florence Chan. Gordon Lam Ka-tung and Zhou Dongyu were respectively named best actor and actress for Trivisa and Soul Mate.

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