22:25 – Liu Kai-chi just stepped up to give the final word to express some support Hong Kong cinema or something? That was weird.
And that’s it for us tonight. Thank you all for following. See you at the Golden Horse Awards!!!!
22:21 – To sum up: No real surprise this year. Most of the results are expected and make sense as far as general buzz goes. Biggest surprise is that we are wrapping up early tonight!
Felix Chong adds that PROJECT GUTENBERG is a Hong Kong film. In front of producer Yu Dong, the head of CHINA’S BONA FILMS.
To its credit, Bona has stuck with Hong Kong filmmakers all these years. Yes, they do co-productions, but Yu Dong has done more to support the HK film industry than a lot of companies (this is Bona’s sixth HKFA Best Film win, by the way). More power to them for that.
22:20 – Andy Lau reads out three of the nominees in Korean. That’s amusing.
And the Best Film award goes to: PROJECT GUTENBERG.
Final count: Seven for PROJECT GUTENBERG. Three for OPERATION RED SEA and STILL HUMAN. Two for TRACEY and MEN ON THE DRAGON. One for DYING TO SURVIVE.
22:16 – And Wong quotes the Bible in the end. Alright.
Andy Lau and Song Hye-kyo now on stage to present the final award. All three of us guess PROJECT GUTENBERG will take Best Film.
22:11 – Anthony Wong puts on his pimp hat.
Wong first asks for applause for the young hosts tonight.
“I’m lucky to receive the award at the hands of the new movie tycoon,” Wong referring to Koo.
Wong tried to make a reference to Qin Dynasty (a STEP BACK TO THE PAST reference?) and Koo shut him up right away.
Wong thanks Chan Siu-kuen for her patience and talent.
Wong switches to English to thank Crisel Consunji. “You are my angel,” he says.
“I’m glad that people think that I’m still an OK actor, and I thank those who didn’t vote for me for telling me that I still have imperfections,” Wong says.
Wong also thanks Albert Yeung for lending him money. He mentioned this in a recent interview.
22:10 – And the Best Actor award goes to: Anthony Wong for STILL HUMAN.
Third award for STILL HUMAN and third Best Actor win for Anthony Wong.
Oh boy, his speech should be good.
22:07 – Louis Koo just revealed the ending of PROJECT GUTENBERG, but alright.
Two of the four nominated films in this category are produced by Koo’s company, by the way.
“He’s certainly talking like a film company boss.” E says.
If you think about it, these five actors were probably also nominated for HKFA Best Actor award a decade ago (well, except for Philip Keung)
Oh Francis Ng isn’t here, either.
22:06 – Louis Koo making his first appearance of the night to present Best Actor. Chow Yun Fat doesn’t seem to be here.
“Oh, it’s everyone’s boss!” T says.
I assume that this entire section won’t be seen in China because Anthony Wong showed up.
22:04 – E and T’s favorite moment of the night is Chloe Maayan winning Best Actress for THREE HUSBANDS. I’m inclined to agree.
22:03 – E notes that Carrie Lam is already gone, so maybe there goes STILL HUMAN’s chances for Best Film.
Final predictions: Anthony Wong for Best Actor and PROJECT GUTENBERG for Best Film.
22:02 – I think this may be the first time in the history of the live blog that the HKFA will not run overtime. This is history in the making, guys.
22:00 – Only Best Actor and Best Film left now. We’re actually going to end on time tonight????!!!!!
21:59: This is Felix Chong’s first win as Best Director. Chong quotes two lines from INFERNAL AFFAIRS in his speech, but I wonder if anyone caught it.
Chong says he thanks his wife because she’s the first person who thought he’d be successful in the film industry.
21:57 – Showing Chow Yun Fat with two guns in GUTENBERG in the nomination reel is just cheating.
And the Best Director award goes to: Felix Chong for PROJECT GUTENBERG, its sixth award of the night.
21:53 – Lau Ching-wan now on stage to present Best Director. I predict Felix Chong to win this for PROJECT GUTENBERG, but let’s see. E thinks Dante Lam has a very good chance for OPERATION RED SEA.
“People say that actors are fools and directors are crazy. It’s true because only a fool will work with a nut, and only a nut would ask a fool to make a movie,” Lau says.
Lau Ching-wan tells a story from the set of FULL ALERT to pay tribute to Ringo Lam.
21:51 – Chloe Maayan gives a good part of her speech in Cantonese. Not very good Cantonese, but impressive.
21:50 – My guests and I are in consensus that Chloe Maayan should win for THREE HUSBANDS. Let’s see.
The Best Actress Award goes to: Chloe Maayan for THREE HUSBANDS. Whooooo.
E and T are still mad that she didn’t win the Golden Horse, especially because DEAR EX won Best Actress there.
21:48 – Nina Paw, last year’s Best Actress winner Teresa Mo and Kara Wai on stage to present Best Actress.
“The auntie trio” T calls them.
21:45 – My guests let out a loud WAH when they realized that Shunji Iwai’s LAST LETTER is nominated. That’s a bad WAH. They’re supporting ANGELS WEAR WHITE. I agree, but DYING will win.
And the Best Film From Mainland and Taiwan award goes to: DYING TO SURVIVE. The voiceover talks about how much money it made, of course.
Director Wen Muye is actually here to accept the award.
21:43 – Former co-stars Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue now on stage to present the Best Film from Mainland and Taiwan award. I think DYING TO SURVIVE will win this one.
21:42 – Ben Yuen also thanks Louis Koo for having the courage to fund the film. His One Cool Films was the backer.
Yuen thanks his longtime girlfriend at the end of the speech.
“Let’s make Hong Kong cinema shine bright again,” Yuen says at the end.
21:40 – “I’ve seen Hong Kong cinema at its brightest. It’s why I wanted to be an actor. Even though I didn’t achieve much, I’ve worked hard at it all these years.” – Ben Yuen
Fellow nominee Poon Chan Leung is also a seasoned stage actor and now runs his own theater troupe.
Yuen pays his respect to his fellow nominees with a bow on stage.
21:38 – Yuen has been a bit actor in Hong Kong films for many years. He’s also a seasoned stage actor and was in the same theater troupe as Ning. This is his first nomination and win.
21:36 – I’d like Poon Chan Leung to win for MEN ON THE DRAGON. But I think Ben Yuen will win for TRACEY.
The Best Supporting Actor award goes to: Ben Yuen for TRACEY, for the film’s second award of the night.
21:34 – Now we enter hour three as the major awards starting being revealed.
Michael Ning and Kaki Sham on the stage now to present Best Supporting Actor.
They used a white paper as Ning’s portrait because his Chinese name shares the same pronunciation as “white paper”.
Sham reveals that he actually entered the film industry earlier than Ning (Ning started as a stage actor).
21:32 – For those keeping count at home: Five for PROJECT GUTENBERG. Three for OPERATION RED SEA. Two for STILL HUMAN and MEN ON THE DRAGON. One for TRACEY.
21:29 – E is guessing STILL HUMAN will win Best Film because it’s a First Film Initiative film and Carrie Lam is there to take credit.
21:27 – Tse says that he was in so many films when he was young because he wanted money.
21:26 – Carrie Lam now goes on stage to present the actual award to him. Well, OK, then.
“He must be her idol when she was young,” T says.
“I’ve been watching your films since I was a child,” Lam says. “Then you must be really old!” Tse responds.
21:24 – Patrick Tse has been in the film industry for 60 years. He’s 82 years old now.
“It’s amazing that he can still wear a white suit and grow a ponytail at his age.” T says.
21:23 – Oddly, no one introduced Tse on stage. His son was just on stage like 40 minutes ago.
21:22 – To my recollection, Patrick Tse has never been nominated for a Hong Kong Film Award. But who cares?
Tse was one of the top stars in the 1960s and one of the most legendary actors in Hong Kong cinema history. He deserves this.
21:21 – Wai just encouraged actors of her generation to work for free for new directors. I can roll with that.
And now it’s time for the Lifetime Achievement Award for Patrick Tse. Only the coolest man ever. Whoooooo.
21:19 – When Kara Wai was crying and rolling on the floor in the climax of TRACEY, people in the cinema laughed. Just saying.
Kara Wai thanks herself for working with new directors. She says it’s an intentional choice.
21:18 – And the Best Supporting Actress award goes to: Kara Wai for TRACEY. She also won the same award at the Asian Film Awards.
This is Wai’s second supporting actress win.
21:16 – I think Kara Wai will win for TRACEY, but honestly, I’m not really rooting for anyone.
“She’s been in the industry for 20 years, and she still don’t know how to speak,” E says about a certain presenter.
21:15 – Charlene Choi and Louis Cheung on stage now to present Best Supporting Actress.
Charlene talks about which astrology sign is most likely to win the award. OK, then.
21:14 – Jason Kwan drops a last thanks for Andy Lau for bringing him into the industry.
21:12 – And Best Cinematography award goes to: Jason Kwan for PROJECT GUTENBERG. This is his second consecutive win, after winning for CHASING THE DRAGON last year.
This is five awards for PROJECT GUTENBERG now.
21:11 – Janice Man and Fiona Sit on the stage present Best Cinematography. They start with a shoutout to James Wong Howe.
21:09 – The Best Screenplay award goes to: Felix Chong for PROJECT GUTENBERG, its fourth award of the night.
And this is despite me hearing people complaining about the ending for the past six months.
STILL HUMAN for Best Film?
21:06 – Cheung Tat-ming and Kearen Pang on stage now to present Best Screenplay.
I think GUTENBERG will win, but would not be surprised if STILL HUMAN or MEN ON THE DRAGON wins.
21:02 – My guests say that they will go to the Golden Scene afterparty if STILL HUMAN wins Best Film. I’d say it depends on who wins Best Screenplay.
(I’m staying home, by the way. I’m not invited anyway)
21:01 – E thinks the GEN-X COPS reunion is the best thing so far. I vote for YOUNG AND DANGEROUS reunion. We’re old people.
21:00 – Kids are cool and all, but we’re definitely running overtime tonight.
20:59 – Why is Jia Zhangke sitting next to Miriam Yeung?????
20:57 – After the short, they cut to Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who is about as far away from grassroots as one can get in Hong Kong.
Aaron Kwok introduces the five kids in the short films.
20:54 – For those keeping count: Three for OPERATION RED SEA and PROJECT GUTENBERG. Two for STILL HUMAN and MEN ON THE DRAGON.
Neo Yau and Angela Yuen introduce a compilation clip of director Adrian Kwan’s five “Little Big Dreams” charity documentary shorts, about kids from grassroot families, with Shawn Yue, Kay Tse, Aaron Kwok, Teresa Mo and Miriam Yeung. You can find the full-length version of the shorts on the HKFA Youtube channel.
20:53 – Reminder: HKFA does not play music to cut off acceptance speeches.
20:51 – And now Best Original Film Score.
The Best Original Film Score award goes to: Rubberband for MEN ON THE DRAGON.
Now E really thinks the film’s done for the night.
20:50 – Trivia: HKFA does not play music to end award acceptance speeches.
20:47: The Best Original Film Song award goes to: Rubberband for MEN ON THE DRAGON. My guests don’t agree based on their performance.
E thinks this will be MEN’s only award out of their 11 nominations. But I think it may have a shot at Best Screenplay.
The lead singer of Rubberband forgot the name of the film’s sound guy.
20:46: And now, Kay Tse, Peter Kam and Feanna Wong present the Best Original Film Song and Best Original Film Score awards.
20:45: T is going nuts trying to get a photo of my TV. She desperately wants to see Ekin in the center.
20:43 – Hey, the YOUNG & DANGEROUS boys cap the medley with their GOLDEN JOB theme song. E and T are pulling for them. The ultimate nostalgia exercise of the night.
20:42 – It’s OK, Jennifer Yu, K-pop stars also sing with backing vocals. Nothing to be ashamed of.
20:41 – Trivia: Panther Chen, who performed the TRACEY theme song, was one of the top-ranking contestants from ATV’s first season of talent competition A MILLION STARS.
20:36 – Back from commercial with a performance by Malaysian rapper Namewee, a song about Cantonese. The audience doesn’t seem to know who he is.
Rubberband takes the torch with a performance of their nominated theme song from MEN ON THE DRAGON.
E and T are complaining about audio issue. “It’s the Cultural Center, what do you expect?” E says.
So this is a medley of the Best Original Song nominees.
Jan Curious sang that terrible song from PROJECT GUTENBERG? Ouch.
20:28 – For those keeping count at home: That’s three for Operation Red Sea and Project Gutenberg. Two for Still Human. My guest thinks Best Film will be between Red Sea and Gutenberg.
I’m going to stop italicizing film names now because it’s taking too long. Back to all caps.
20:25 – The Best Action Choreography award goes to: Dante Lam for Operation Red Sea.
Lam isn’t here to get his award, I assume because Lam is in Mexico shooting The Rescue.
Albert Yeung accepts the award on Lam’s behalf. He says Lam decided last-minute to not attend the awards.
(by the way, Chin Kar-lok is one of the nominees)
20:23 – “I love Hong Kong films!” Lau says. The perfect cap to a speech, but he’s not done yet. However, he’s forgotten what to say again.
Chin Kar-lok tells him to wait until the backstage interview to continue. Chin using his experience as a game show host here.
The Chin brothers and Lau now present the Best Action Choreography award.
20:21 – Lau Wan ran out of speech after about a minute and a half. Chin Kar-lok asks him a question, but Lau says “I’ll have to think about it.”
This is the first time a stunt actor wins a Professional Achievement Award. Sammo Hung and Lau Kar-leung were all directors already when they won.
20:19 – Chin Siu-ho and Chin Kar-lok on stage to co-present the Professional Achievement Award for Lau Wan, the action choreographer and actor known for his wire work.
Lau Wan’s award clip is narrated by Eric Kot, I think. It’s hard not to recognize that voice, right?
20:18 – The audience seems grateful that the winners this time actually speak English.
One of them even thanks Louis Koo in Cantonese. They work for the Thai office of One Cool.
“Louis is everyone’s boss,” says E.
20:17 – Operation Red Sea has Best Sound Design locked, if you ask me.
Trivia: 90% of the Best Sound Design nominees are Thai. Not true.
And the Best Sound Design award goes to: Nopawat Likitwong, Sarunyu Nurnsai for Operation Red Sea. Its second award of the night.
20:15 – The four GEN-X-ers say hi to Albert Yeung. Guys, wrong tycoon. Mr. Lam’s also in the room.
The four actors present Best Sound Design now.
20:14 – The audience are just kind of confused by this Korean-language speech.
Albert Yeung taking an iphone photo of the winner. Peak social media work here.
20:13 – And the Best Visual Effects award goes to: Inho Lee, Taegyun Kang for Operation Red Sea.
“They look so Korean!” T says.
20:12 – Trivia: 90% of the Best Visual Effects nominees are Korean.
(That’s not true, but it wouldn’t be surprising)
20:10 – The stars of Gen-X Cops – Nicolas Tse, Stephen Fung, Daniel Wu and Sam Lee – hold a reunion to present Best Visual Effects.
The four joke that visual effects can make them look like they did in Gen-X Cops.
So I assume that Gutenberg won’t win Best Visual Effects, but who knows.
20:09 – Curran Pang works with the Pang Brothers, but I don’t believe that he is one of the Pang Brothers. Don’t quote me on that.
20:08 – And the Best Editing award goes to: Curran Pang for Project Gutenberg. No love for Operation Red Sea.
That’s three awards for Gutenberg now.
20:06 – Back to the awards. Ling Man-lung and Rachel Leung on stage now. They were both nominees of last year’s Best Actor Award. Ling won.
Leung complains that Ling’s speech last year was too long, so she showed a sped-up version of the speech.
Now, they’re presenting Best Editing. I’m guessing Gutenberg will win this one, too.
20:04 – Back from the first commercial break. Backstage interview with Crisel Consunji. She’s holding a gift box.
19:58 – Around this time last year, Chasing the Dragon had already picked up several technical awards. It didn’t win any of the major awards, though, so let’s see what happens to Gutenberg later on.
19:57 – Tang and Chau stay to present Best Costume and Makeup Design.
The Best Costume and Makeup Design award goes to: Man Lim Chung for Project Gutenberg. Gutenberg and Still Human now tied at two apiece.
19:56 – Project Gutenberg is nominated for 17 awards tonight, and it wasn’t nominated in the first two award categories. Is this the beginning of a winning streak?
19:54 – This is where the big-budget co-production dominates. So the nomination reel is quite nice-looking.
And the Best Art Direction award goes to: Eric Lam Project Gutenberg, for its first win of the night. This beat out three big-budget epics.
19:53 – Stephy Tang and Chrissie Chau – stars of HUSBAND KILLERS – now on stage to present Best Art Direction.
19:52 – Chan is also nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay. I doubt Chan will win all three awards, but who knows?
19:51 – And the winner of Best New Director award is: Chan Siu-kuen for Still Human. That’s two awards for Still Human already.
19:50 – They’re presenting the Best New Director award. I think Chan Siu-kuen will win for Still Human, but I think this is actually the most competitive category of the night.
19:48 – Ng Siu-hin and Carman Tong introduce Yuzuki Akiyama and Takayuki Hamatsu, the two actors from One Cut of the Dead actors to present the next award. They’re in town to shoot a film.
Hey, the theme song for One Cut of the Dead is also called Keep Rolling.
19:46 – Crisel starts her speech with some broken Cantonese. She’s trying her best.
“In Hong Kong, when we celebrate our diversity, we move forward together,” she says in English.
19:45 – And the Best New Actor award goes to: Crisel Consunji for Still Human. I think this is the first time a Filipino actor has won an award at HKFA. Don’t quote me on that.
19:43 – The first award is Best New Actor, presented by Zeno Koo and Cecilia So.
I think Crisel Consunji will win for Still Human, but my guests think Chan Cham Man will win for Three Husbands.
19:42 – The musical performance, featuring the Danny Chan song that was in New King of Comedy, is performed by all 32 hosts. I’m glad it was short.
19:41 – Andy Lau enters the stage following the segment, introducing a performance led by Babyjohn. Why is he singing?
E: “How are they supposed to ‘keep rolling’ with this? I want to turn off the camera”
“Keep rolling” is this year’s theme.
19:39 – Ringo Lam got an extra long tribute, including a shot of him receiving the HKFA. The segment ends with Raymond Chow. It started with Louis Cha.
19:38 – Well, this is the first time I’ve seen the HKFA start with the in memoriam segment.
Hideki Saijo is included because he’s acted in Hong Kong films before. So I am told.
19:37 – Wait, we’re starting with the In Memoriam segment???? Backed by a cover of an Eason Chan song.
19:36 – We’re joined tonight by two special guests: E and T (not even real names). They will be snarking throughout the night.
19:34 – Tonight’s show is being “hosted” by 32 up-and-coming actors. We start with a drum performance by, er, a bunch of them. (seriously, don’t expect me to know all of them)
19:31 – And we’re off! Hong Kong Film Awards starting after the ad break.
18:53 – Those familiar with our live blogs know how this low-tech thing goes. The latest post goes on top. Just keep reloading to see the latest updates.
18:50 – We’re not quite underway yet, but we’ve got the red carpet on TV.
For those that want to watch the show, it is being livestreamed to 27 countries.
Asia in Cinema 