A $600,000 movie starring unknowns scored a big victory for small films when it walked off with the two top prizes at the 17th Hong Kong Film Awards at the Cultural Centre last night.
Made In Hong Kong was named Best Film while first-time director Fruit Chan won Best Director. The film's star, Sam Lee Chan-sam, whom Chan said he literally 'picked off the streets', was named Best Newcomer for his role as a troubled young man drawn into a triad society.
Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who was narrowly pipped at the Cannes Film Festival and Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival, finally received recognition for his role as a gay man in Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together.
Leung's longtime companion, Carina Lau Ka-ling, however, lost out in the Best Actress category to Maggie Cheung Man-yuk.
Cheung, who is in France, made film history by winning her fourth film awards statuette for her role as the legendary Soong Mei-ling in the historical epic The Soong Sisters.
The Soong Sisters, directed by Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, took six awards including that for Best Supporting Actor for mainland actor Jiang Wen, and Best Cinematography for Arthur Wong Ngok-tai's artistic touch.