If there was a consolation award for the most unfortunate young talent, Annie Liu Hsin-you would be odds-on favourite to win. When the young Taiwanese actress was signed to star in Ah Sou, the chances were that Liu would automatically become the next pin-up. Propped up by a cast of regular award-winners - among them Eric Tsang Chi- wai, Simon Yam Tat-wah and Anthony Wong Chau-sang - what could possibly go wrong?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. With its insipid story, incoherent characters and visual gimmicks that went nowhere, Wong Ching-po's second feature was widely panned and didn't make much impact at the box office.
Which rather overshadowed Liu's attempts to make an impact. The naivete of her child-like character grates after a few minutes, exacerbated by her quaintly accented Cantonese.
Still, Liu is in the running for the best new performer gong at the Hong Kong Film Awards this year. Not that she stands much chance. Initial D's Jay Chou Jie-lun almost certainly has it locked up. His turn as a delivery boy who becomes racing royalty is above average for an acting debutant. And it won't hurt that Initial D was the highest-grossing Chinese-language film in Hong Kong last year.
There's keener competition for best new director. The better known of the three nominees is actor-turned-director Stephen Fung Tak-lun, for his Albert Yeung Sau-shing-sponsored martial arts-comedy House of Fury. Kenneth Bi Kwok- chi, another beneficiary of Yeung and Jackie Chan's JCE Productions, is in the running with Rice Rhapsody.
Mathew Tang Hon-keung's path to the director's seat was probably the most difficult. His budget for b420 - a film about youngsters in Macau - was a meagre $1.5 million. But it won the Grand Prix at last year's Fukuoka Film Festival, and has featured at festivals around the world.