The 36th Hong Kong Film Awards were held on Sunday night at the Grand Theatre of Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Hong Kong crime film Trivisa took home five awards, the biggest haul of the evening. Veteran local actor and actress Lam Ka-tung and Hui Ying-hung won the best actor and actress awards respectively.
Best actor Lam Ka-tung and best actress Hui Ying-hung. /CFP Photo
Emerging young filmmaker Wong Chun won the best new director award for his brave, small-budget movie, Mad World. The film, which wrestles with mental illness, also earned best supporting actor and actress awards for Eric Tsang and Jin Yan-ling respectively.
Recently released in the Chinese mainland, the human tale of a bipolar patient recovering with his family has made many sob, sigh and reflect on the complexity of life.
The only thing is, the 100 minutes is far from enough -- there’s much to explore when touching the dark side of the mad world both mentally and socially.
Wong Chun (middle), director of Mad World. /CFP Photo
“The 28-year-old director [of Mad World] is about the same age as my daughter and thank you so much for bringing me such a big gift,” said 63-year-old Jin Yan-ling, whose performance in the movie won her the fourth best supporting actress award of her career.
“No matter how small the length of character in the movie is, people will notice how much effort you have put in,” she added.
Best supporting actress Jin Yan-ling. /CFP Photo
The awards were dubbed a big win for “veterans of stage” this year, as the average age of the four main awardees was almost 60. Netizens commented that the Hong Kong film industry is also getting old in some senses.
On the other hand, the quality of nominations for best new director increased with this generation, according to Guo Fucheng, who handed out the best director award for Trivisa and is known as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings” of Hong Kong.
As dynamics shift within the Hong Kong film industry, which reportedly contributes about five percent to the region’s economy, maintaining prosperity is dependent both on creativity and originality.
CGTN Photo
