[2011.02.09] CHOW YUN FAT, NICK CHEUNG AND NICHOLAS TSE COMPETE FOR BEST ACTOR

The 30th Hong Kong Film Awards will take place on April 17. Yesterday a press conference was held to announce the nominees. DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (DIK YUN KIT ji TUNG TIN DAI GOK) received the most nominations with 13. Carina Lau Ka Ling was nominated for Best Actress with the film along with Tang Wei, Miriam Yeung Chin Wa, Josie Ho Chiu Yi and Fiona Sit Hoi Kei. On the other hand Andy Lau Tak Wa was not nominated for Best Actor with the film, but the Best Actor competition remained fierce as CONFUCIUS' Chow Yun Fat would compete with Jacky Cheung Hok Yau, Nick Cheung Ka Fai, Tony Leung Ka Fai and Nicholas Tse Ting Fung.

The Hong Kong Film Award held a press conference yesterday. Attending guests included the Hong Kong Film Award Association chair Gordon Chan Ka Seung, Cheung Ka Fai, Paw Hee Ching and Dante Lam Chiu Yin. This year is the Hong Kong Film Award's 30th anniversary, the event

designed a series of special effects to open the ceremony. A light show will coordinate with firework in the shape of 30 in Victoria Harbor. This year's award ceremony received 5.98 million in film development fund sponsorships; ATV, Now TV and Hong Kong Radio 2 will broadcast the event live.

Always the center of attention, the Best Actor and Best Actress competitions continue to be fierce this year. Best Actor in particular includes nominees like CONFUCIUS' Chow Yun Fat, CROSSING HENNESSY's Jacky Cheung Hok Yau, BRUCE LEE MY BROTHER's Tony Leung Ka Fai and STOOL PIGEON's Nick Cheung Ka Fai and Nicholas Tse Ting Fung. Currently working

in the Mainland Gat Gor was happy and excited to learn about the nomination. Fat Gor was already nominated for Asian Film Award Best Actor with LET THE BULLETS FLY, which one was he more confident about? He honestly said it was very hard to say. He has not thought about winning an award in a long time because he has not received a Hong Kong Film Award nominations for years, but he would be happy if he would win and happy for others if he would not. Fat Gor would like to participate if he would not be in the Mainland. Speaking of CONFUCIUS, he pointed out that the character was harder to play because he had to play him from middle to old age, the dialogues were in formal Putonghua and he was a historical figure with different image and opinions in everyone's hearts. During the shoot he had a lot of pressure. He had to thank Chui Bo Chu, Yee Chung Man and Peter Pau Tak Fun for this nomination.

Cheung Ka Fai was very happy to learn about his nomination at the press conference. He said that two years ago director Dante Lee Chiu Yin did not receive a Best Director nomination with BEAST STALKER (JING YUN), which he minded a lot. This year he was very happy for the director. He pointed out that that Hong Kong Mainland film co-productions had to meet the market demand, which made maintaining personal style difficult. In recent years he attended many film festivals but as a human he would play favorites. The music of the Hong Kong Film Award was extra intimate. Speaking of his strong competition, Ka Fai said that everyone was strong. He had confidence in himself, if he said that he would win for sure then he would be too arrogant. He would already be happy for anyone from STOOL PIGEON who won, whether it would be him or Ting Fung. Earlier he was afraid that he has won before and he would not win again, but he believed the Hong Kong Film Award was fair. During the first round voting, he voted for himself and Kwai Lun-Mei for Best Actress. Teddy Robin Kwan had quite a major part in GALLANTS (DA LUI TOI) but was only nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Ka Fai said that this was the film company's calculation and measurement, he thought Teddy Robin was a Lead Actor. Tse Ting Fung said that he would face it in peace because if he was too confident he would give himself pressure, which instead was not good. He thought that this was not his credit, completely because of a good director, good actors, everything together I was able to play such a good character.

In addition, Lam Chiu Yin was very happy for finally receiving a nomination. Yet earlier Ka Fai won so many awards, which already filled the void in his heart. This time STOOL PIGEON had great response and he was very happy that Ting Fung, Ka Fai and Uncle Chi were all nominated. Was he confident about the award? He joked that he was confident about walking the red carpet. When asked whether Ting Fung or Ka Fai would win, he honestly said that it was very hard to pick. The best would be dual Best Actors. Yet Ka Fai has always won so many awards earlier, giving one to Ting Fung would be good too.