The Knot, a movie about love separated by the Taiwan
Straits, won Best Feature Film at the 14th Beijing Student Film
Festival on Saturday evening.
The widely anticipated Tuya's Marriage, the Best Film
Golden Bear Award winner at the 57th Berlin Film Festival and
nominee for best feature film, director, and actress at the student
film festival, received no awards.
The Knot was directed by Yin Li, and featured popular
Chinese mainland actor Chen Kun and Taiwanese actress Vivian
Hsu.
Tony Leung Ka Fai, who played a countryside teacher in Zheng
Kehong's My Career as a Teacher, beat Tony Leung Chiu Wai,
Chow Yun-Fat, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshivo, and Daniel Wu to win as
most popular Hong Kong actor, selected by the college students who
participated in the festival.
Holding the "Flying Tiger" cup in hand at the ceremony late
Saturday evening, Leung Ka Fai said he intended to retire, but
changed his mind because of the encouragement, support, and
recognition given by the students on his first arrival at the film
festival.
"I promise you that I'll be back next year, and the year after
next!" said Leung, who has won the Best Actor for Hong Kong Film
Award three times and Best Supporting Actor one time. His films
Reign Behind the Curtain and Burning of the Imperial
Palace, both shot in 1983, are the best known by the
mainland's audience.
Hong Kong veteran director Jacob Cheung's A Battle of
Wits, based on a Japanese cartoon featuring an ancient Chinese
anti-war saint, and mainland director Zhang Yibai's The Longest
Night in Shanghai, about a Chinese woman taxi driver and a
famed Japanese dresser who fall in love with each other after a
night together alone despite the obstacle of language, picked up
the Jury Award.
Li Yixiang, who is not so familiar to Chinese audiences, won
Best Actor for his performance in Chen Daming's One Foot off
the Ground, a black-humor movie about three opera troupe
members who are forced to change their profession when their funds
dry up. He also starred in Li Yang's Blind Shaft, which
won the Silver Bear award at 2003 Berlin Film Festival.
Siqin Gaowa, a veteran Inner Mongolian actress who has been
absent from the silver screen in recent years, won the Best Actress
award for her role in Ann Hui's The Postmodern Life Of My
Aunt, which also starred Chow Yun-Fat.
Call for Love, a love comedy assembling a batch of
mainland stars, pulled off the Best Visual Effect award, while Wang
Fen's The Case, a thriller telling of a man's sexual
desire from a woman director's angle, and Zhuang Xinyu's Teeth
of Love, a movie about the relationship between a woman's
memory and love, took home the Best First Feature, a similar award
to the director award for a maiden film.
Altogether 35 Chinese-made films entered the festival this year,
vying for a total of 16 awards, 14 of which were selected by a jury
consisting of 30 students from 29 universities across China and 11
experts.
Feng Gong, known as one of the best Chinese comedians, and Xu
Jinglei, an actress and director, were selected as the most popular
directors for Bie Na Ziji Bu Dang Ganbu (Don't Take
Yourself as a Cadre) and Dreams May Come.
Mainland rising star Chen Kun was selected as the most popular
actor for his roles in two entries at the film festival, The
Knot and thriller The Door, with controversial Zhao
Wei, who also starred in two entries, The Postmodern Life Of My
Aunt and The Longest Night in Shanghai, won as the
most popular actress.
Zhou Bo won the Best Freshman for Su Lei's Wang Shan,
about a struggle between a poor peasant and the local officials,
with Pu Jian's The Exam winning the Special Award for
Education-theme Film, Lan Bing and Ye Jing's A Great Master
Recaptured, about Peking Opera master Mei Lanfeng, winning the
Special Award for Documentary Film, and Zhai Junjie's My Long
March winning the Special Award for Martial Film.
Launched in 1993, The Beijing Student Film Festival is sponsored
by Beijing Normal University and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of
Radio and Television.
(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2007)
