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The ceremony was held on Sunday evening.

Mabel Cheung’s controversial documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self was named best film at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards (Hkfa), which also saw Wai Ka Fai’s Detective Vs. Sleuths walk away with best director.

Held on Sunday evening (April 16), the awards ceremony returned to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for the first time since 2019. It was a star-studded event with a big presence of nominees and guests on the red carpet. Most notable was Michelle Yeoh who recently won the best actress Oscar.

As the first presenter of the night, Yeoh...

Mabel Cheung’s controversial documentary To My Nineteen-year-old Self scooped Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday night (April 16), where the crowds also applauded an appearance by Best Actress Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh.

Malaysia-born Yeoh, who recently became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress, started her career in the Hong Kong film industry and has been making a celebratory return trip to the city over the past week. At the Hong Kong Film Awards, she presented the award for Best New Performer, which went to 10-year-old Sahal Zaman for The Sunny Side Of The Street.

Cheung’s documentary, which follows six schoolgirls over a perod of ten years, won Best Picture despite being earlier pulled from the awards after some of the girls said they hadn’t consented to any public screenings.

The film was resubmitted by its co-director, William Kwok,...

An unusual five films picked up ten or more nominations for the Hong Kong Film Awards, with court room drama, “The Sparring Partner” picking up 16. But the event was partially overshadowed by a row over “To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self,” a documentary feature.

“To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self” is a warm portrait of six girls at a Hong Kong school that was made over a period of ten years. It was co-directed by the veteran Mabel Cheung, who has tackled thorny historical subjects in “The Soong Sisters,” and was producer of 2010 hit “Echoes of the Rainbow,” a nostalgic elegy to old Hong Kong.

The film played at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in August last year and was released theatrically earlier this year. But it was withdrawn from the city’s cinemas this week after one of the youngsters featured in the film published a complaint in a newspaper, saying that...

‘My Nineteen-Year-Old Self’ withdrawn over public screening consent issues.

Courtroom drama The Sparring Partner has received 16 nominations for the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards, which saw the last-minute withdrawal of Mabel Cheung’s documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self.

The Sparring Partner, which marks the feature directorial debut of Ho Cheuk Tin, leads the pack with nominations in all but three categories. Based on the true story of a gruesome double murder case, its nods include best film, best director and five nominations for performers including lead actors Mak Pui Tung and Yeung Wai Lun. The film has become Hong Kong...

Today we have a handsome set of pastoral pastiche from the land of Chinese blockbusters. Derek Yee's In Search of Lost Time may have nothing to do with Proust, but it has plenty to do with one of many social crises of the 1950s. At the time, there were so many orphaned children that the government took several thousand children and 'embedded' them with the herders and farmers of Inner Mongolia. Designer Xin Yi Lian has done a lot of character-poster work for Chinese blockbusters, from Detective vs. Sleuths to The Chinese Pilot to The Battle of Lake Chang-Jin. Here, the tone of the film is set with a nostalgic collection of character images matched to beautiful, bucolic, landscapes. The text template fits all of the images cleanly,...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Sci-fi-comedy “Moon Man” rocketed to a 130 million opening weekend and helped the China box office to escape gravity.

Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed that the film scored a three-day gross of RMB873 million (130 million) and accounted for fully 90 of the market. Nationwide weekend theatrical business hit 144 million, the third highest weekend of the year and the highest non-holiday weekend of 2022.

The strong results came despite some cinemas remaining closed in key cities and capacity limitations remaining in place in others.

“Moon Man” tells the story of “the last human in the universe” as an astronaut finds himself stranded on the moon after an asteroid wipes out life on earth.

It is directed by Zhang Chiyu, who previously directed 2017 sports comedy hit “Never Say Die.”

It was produced by Mahua FunAge, a consistently successful comedy production firm with credits including “Hello Mrs Money” and Goodby Mr Loser,” alongside Alibaba Pictures.

Click here to read the full article.

A heartwarming sci-fi comedy about a Chinese astronaut who believes he’s the last human alive has revived China’s box office in spectacular fashion. Moon Man, directed by Zhang Chiyu of the hit-making comedy troop Mahua FunAge, opened to 148 million over the weekend, including pre-sales, according to data from Artisan Gateway. Local ticketing app Maoyan projects the film to earn over 640 million (Rmb 4.34 billion) before it leaves Chinese screens, which would make it the country’s sixth-biggest film of all time.

Like a more whimsical version of The Martian, Moon Man stars Shen Teng (Goodbye Mr. Loser) as a Chinese astronaut on the moon who comes to believe he’s the last human in the universe after witnessing an asteroid collide with earth. In truth, earth’s many survivors, including his dream girl (Ma Li), are watching his every move via a live-stream.

Click here to read the full article.

Hong Kong crime thriller Detective vs. Sleuths again topped China’s theatrical box office, taking 14.2 million during what was altogether a downbeat weekend of moviegoing in the country.

The market generated just 40.6 million in total revenue during the frame, a modest total for what’s usually China’s busy summer blockbuster season. Ongoing Covid-19 controls across the country and a dearth of top commercial titles continue to hold the local industry back from a more robust recovery.

Produced by Emperor Motion Pictures, Detective vs. Sleuths has earned 96.3 million to date. Close behind from Friday to Sunday was fellow holdover Lighting Up the Stars, which added 11.6 million for a 230 million cumulative gross. Chen Sicheng’s somewhat disappointing sci-fi comedy Mozart From Space came in third with 6.4 million and a 43.8 million running total.

Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion, the sole Hollywood heavy-hitter allowed into the market in many weeks,...

Further titles include Herman Yau’s War Customised and Alan Mak’s Insider.

Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) has unveiled a slate of 12 upcoming films, including a sequel to Zhang Yimou’s box office hit Cliff Walkers and new all-star features from Herman Yau and Alan Mak.

It has also released the first images of Felix Chong’s The Goldfinger, which reunites Infernal Affairs stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau for the first time in nearly 20 years (see below).

The 12 titles, along with two projects in development, equate to an investment of $191.7m (Hk$1.5b), representing the company...