Probably no one was more surprised than its director and executive producer Peter Chan Ho-sun when his film Comrades, Almost A Love Story won in nine categories - including best film and best director - at the Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) on Sunday.
It was a good show of giving credit where credit was due. No doubt, many of its contenders such as Hu-Du-Men and Big Bullet were noteworthy efforts as well, but as critics - and the HKFA voters - have agreed, Comrades was the best that Hong Kong had to offer.
The film, which also took the awards for best actress, screenplay, supporting actor, cinematography, original film score, art direction and costume and design, tells the story of Lee Kiu (Maggie Cheung) and Siu-kwun (Leon Lai Ming), who are transplanted to Hong Kong in the mid-1980s and find that its streets are not paved with gold.
Chan himself later said he had expected 'at most four or five' awards. After all, never before had any film won this many awards in the HKFA's 16-year history. Three films has previously won six awards.
The first was Yim Ho's Homecoming which won for best film, director, screenplay, actress, newcomer and art direction, at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1985.
The next was Derek Yee's tearjerker C'est La Vie, Mon Cheri in 1994 which took the statuettes for best film, director, screenplay, actress, supporting actor, and supporting actress.
Last year, it was Ann Hui's Summer Snow which swept the board with all six major categories: film, director, screenplay, actor, actress, and supporting actor.