Best Actress winner Kara Wai Photo: CFP Best Actor winner Lam Ka-tung at the red carpet Photo: IC Trivisa ran away with the Best Film plum at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) Sunday during a star-studded ceremony at the Hong Kong Cultural Center (HKCC).
Kara Wai won Best Actress for her performance in Happiness. Wai said she wanted to thank her late mother who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease that the film Happiness focuses on Men's Nike Air VaporMax Moc Cool Grey Australia , and that she hopes the film could bring more public attention to the disease.
The Best Director award went to Frank Hui, Jevons Au and Vicky Wong of Trivisa. However, directors left the press conference room without taking any questions.
Jevons Au is also one of the five directors of the 35th Best Film, Ten Years.
Lam Ka-tung won Best Actor for his performance in Trivisa.
Trivisa, though not yet licensed for release in mainland cinemas, copped three awards. One of its leading actors Men's Nike Air VaporMax Flyknit All Black Icy Blue Australia , Lam Ka-tung, said in his post-award speech that he is proud to be a Hong Kong actor and that he feels the changes taking place in Hong Kong and wanted to continue to take challenging roles.
Due to property rights issues, the live broadcast of the ceremony was only available on several local TV channels and overseas online platforms, according to organizers.
Outside the HKCC, a giant screen and around 1,000 free seats were set. A security guard at the entrance said the red carpet parade and the ceremony would be broadcast live on the screen for the public.
Some residents said they didn't pay much attention to the awards and preferred to watch the live broadcast at home, but young mainlanders told the Global Times the ceremony attracted them, that's why they went to the venue even without access to the hall.
"It's my first time to be where the HKFA is being held," Charlotte Ngai Men's Nike Air VaporMax 2.0 Tan Cream Australia , a mainland woman who has been working in Hong Kong for one year, told the Global Times on Sunday. "It's thrilling."
"We knew the ceremony would start at 8, so we dropped by to see if we could run into some celebrities," said a mainland couple who preferred to stay anonymous.
Starting at 5:30 pm, the star-studded red carpet parade saw the arrival of international celebrities such as Jacky Chan and Zhang Ziyi and Hong Kong and mainland celebrities including Eric Tsang and Zhao Wei, the Best Actress winner of the 34th HKFA.
Last year's Best Film award went to the controversial independent production Ten Years.
Soul Mate and Trivisa are two of this year's favorites for Best Film.
A story about a tangled relationship Men's Nike Air VaporMax 2.0 White Black Australia , Soul Mate is directed by Derek Tsang and stars mainland actresses Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun, the Best Actress winners of Taiwan's 53th Golden Horse Awards in 2016.
Trivisa, a crime thriller featuring the ups and downs of three notorious Hong Kong mobsters, Kwai Ching-hung, Yip Kwok-foon and Cheuk Tze-keung, during the 1990s.
Mad World Women's Nike Air VaporMax Triple Pink Australia , named by some media as Hong Kong's Manchester by the Sea,which focuses on people suffering from depression and the lack of care for them, grabbed supporting actor and actress awards.
This year's HKFA focused greater attention on novice directors, which is "quite a relief to me," said HKFA chairman Derek Yee. Twenty-eight fresh faces were among the nominees, including Derek Tsang of Soul Mate Men's Nike Air VaporMax Moc Midnight Fog Australia , the directors of Trivisa, Chan Chi-fat of the baseball-themed Weeds On Fire and Wong Chun of Mad World.
As for the trend of local filmmakers and stars "going up north" to work in the mainland, Yee said it's natural but he still has faith in the local film industry due to its rich history.
Mainland performance
On the other side, some of this year's nominees already released in mainland cinemas didn't seem to fare well.
Critics gave generally fair reviews of the two films but fell short at the box office by raking in just slightly over 1.6 million yuan ($230,000) over the weekend.
Scenes at the beginning and end of Weeds On Fire featuring Hong Kong's Occupy Central movement were cut in the mainland version, according to WeChat blogger Fanpai Yingping (Antagonist Movie Review) on Friday.