Actress Gong Li to be honoured with Women in Motion award at Cannes Film Festival
Chinese-Singaporean star, attending event in France for the 18th year, will receive the award celebrating leading female figures in cinema at a ceremony on Sunday
Chinese-Singaporean film star Gong Li – who this week walked on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for the 18th year – is to be presented with the annual Women in Motion prize, awarded jointly by the festival and French luxury group, Kering.
Gong, 53, will be the first person of Chinese descent to receive the honour, at a ceremony on Sunday.
The actress, who served as a jury member at the 50th Cannes Film Festival in 1997, will join the ranks of other past winners including the American actresses Jane Fonda, Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, French actress Isabelle Huppert and Spanish director Carla Simon.
The award aims to celebrate the careers of leading female figures in cinema – both those working in front of and behind the camera.
As one of China’s leading cinematic luminaries, Gong’s career has developed in tandem with the evolution of China’s film industry.
She has had many leading roles in films, including The Story of Qiu Ju, Red Sorghum and To Live, all directed by Zhang Yimou, and Farewell My Concubine directed by Chen Kaige.
She has also appeared in American productions such as Memoirs of a Geisha and Miami Vice.
Two of her new films, Saturday Fiction, a 1940s-set period drama by Chinese director Lou Ye and Disney's live-action film, Mulan – in which Gong will play the villainess – are in the final stages of production, and will be released later this year, and in 2020, respectively.