Veteran Paw Hee-ching last night became the first local star in five years to win the best actress award at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
But her victory could not hide a problem that threatens a business many see as the flagship of Hong Kong's creative industries: local actresses, especially young ones, are more and more losing out to mainland counterparts in the awards race.
Prior to the win for Paw, 59 - for her role as an optimistic single mother in Ann Hui On-wah's low-budget docudrama The Way We Are - the last time a Hong Kong actress won the city's best actress award was in 2004, when Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi took the prize for her part in the heart-wrenching drama Lost in Time.
In 2005, Zhang Ziyi won the award for her role in Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai's 2046. The following year, Zhou Xun claimed the prize for her part in Hong Kong director Peter Chan Ho-sun's musical Perhaps Love. In 2007, Gong Li was named best actress for her part in costume drama The Curse of the Golden Flower, while last year Siqin Gaowa won the prize for her role in The Postmodern Life of My Aunt.
Paw's victory could not disguise the lack of promising young female stars coming through in the city.
'This is a wake-up call not only for local actresses but the entire local film industry,' said Bryan Chang Wai-hung, chairman of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society.