With fewer productions, familiar names dominate nominations

25TH Hong Kong Film Awards

Familiar names and four big productions dominate nominations for this year's awards - a sign of a dwindling number of projects as studios play it safe, an industry professional says.

Best film nominees - Tsui Hark's Seven Swords, Peter Chan Ho-sun's Perhaps Love, Election by Johnnie To Kei-fung and Initial D by Andrew Lau Wai-keung and Alan Mak Siu-fai - have also been named in almost all the 19 categories, including best director, screenplay, actor and actress.

Woody Tsung Wan-chi, chief executive of the Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories Motion Picture Industry Association, said that the decline in the number of productions offered fewer choices for the awards.

'Especially in the last two years, there have been fewer outstanding movies. The focus has shifted to a few major films.

'The greatest problem is a lack of surprises. For example, those nominated for best actor are stars who have been in the business for over a decade, some nearly two.'