[2010.03.23] MOTHER WINS THREE ASIAN FILM AWARDS

The Asian Film Awards took place last night. Korean film MOTHER won three awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. It became the film with the most awards. Although BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS (SUP YUET WAI SING) did not win Best Picture, its actor Wang Xueqi and Nicholas Tse Ting Fung won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Wai Ying Hung with AT THE END OF DAYBREAK (SUM MOR) won Best Supporting Actress. Hong Kong film professionals' performance was already considered decent. Best Director was CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH's Lu Chuan. Zhang Yimou received the Outstanding Contribution Award.

Before Tony Leung Chiu Wai presented the award to Zhang Yimou, he mentioned that at the age of 25 he finally raised enough money to buy his first camera. The audience gave Zhang Yimou a standing ovation. Zhang Yimou thanked everyone and asked everyone to take a seat. He also said that this award was a new start for him as he hoped to make even better movies in the future. Later he was asked about his opinions of young directors. He was certain that young director's insight and horizon would definitely be better than his generation because now is very open, an information age. However his view of film has never changed.

Wang Xueqi on stage did not forget to mention his friends in the cast because without their good performance he would not have won, being with them helped his performance a lot. Earlier he already won the Hong Kong Film Critic Society Best Actor. Last night he also won another audience choice award. He thanked the media for more audience recognition of him. As for Best Supporting Actor, Ting Fung was teary eyed and thanked his wife Cecilia Cheung Pak Chi. He was often not at home due to the film but she did not complain. Finally he even said, "I love you baby!" However backstage, Ting Fung was much calmer. "I am happy! (Did you call Pak Chi with the good news?) No, I didn't bring a phone." As for Wang Xueqi's praise, he expressed that each actor performed well but he never thought that he would win. Earlier he only thought about coming to sit for three hours. In addition Ting Fung earlier has won Best New Actor and Best Supporting Actor. This was his third award. Some said that the baby was good luck for him. He asked, "He isn't even born yet and he's good luck for me? That's got nothing to do with it. (Will you celebrate?) Probably not!"

Best Supporting Actor Wai Ying Hung was teary eyed. She said that in the audience her heart just kept pounding because she picked the other nominees to win and lacked confidence. She never thought that she would win. Aside from thanking the director for waiting several years for her and teaching her how to act, she also thanked other actors without whom she could not have made this movie with such a low budget. Backstage, she described her feeling as when she won her first Hong Kong Film Award Best Actress. She was shaking and nervous because she never thought about winning an award. She said, "If I get to go back on stage again, I would adjust my thank you speech. I am very afraid of saying the director's name wrong." Her co-star Ng Meng Hui won Best New Actor. She expressed that she would celebrate with hot pot casserole with the director.

During the red carpet ceremony, the event workers prevented guests from any interview. After guest photos, the crew rushed them into the venue and left reporters helpless. Backstage, the crew again did not arranged interviews for the winners. Fortunately "locals" Siu Hung and Ting Fung saw reporters awaiting and stopped for interviews. The most outrageous was the award error. The event announced the winner to be GOEMON but actually FACE won; however the crew did not make the correction with the live media and upset the media (including foreign media).