Actor Andy Lau To Judge 7th Annual Asian Film Awards

Lou Ye’s “Mystery” Receives Six Nominations Including Best Film

One month before the 7^th annual Asian Film Awards, this week the organizing Hong Kong International Film Festival Society announced 30 nominees from nine countries up for awards in 14 categories. With the theme “An Eye on Asian Cinema,” this year’s nominees will be judged by a committee headed by local A-list actor Andy Lau, acting as president of the panel.

On the big-budget mainland Chinese film side, Lou Ye’s Mystery (浮城谜事), which premiered last year at the Cannes Film Festival — received six nominations, including best film, best director, best actress (Hao Lei), best newcomer (Qi Xi), best screenwriter and best composer. This marks an upswing in Lou’s mainstream cinema fortunes, was the director was banned from making films for five years after “Summer Palace” (2006) ran afoul with Beijing authorities. Other Chinese films up for awards include the Johnnie To-helmed Drug War (毒戰), with three nominations, Lu Chuan’s The Last Supper (王的盛宴) with four nods, and China-Hong Kong co-productions The Silent War (听风者) and The Last Tycoon (大上海), both with two nominations.

As Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) executive director Roger Garcia told the Wall Street Journal, “This year’s theme, ‘An Eye On Asian Cinema’, underlines the AFAs role as a beacon and monitor of what is going on in our part of the world for the international film community and movie-goers.” As Andy Lau added, “Asian films are spreading across the globe because of their diversity and innovation. Not only do Asian films deliver fresh topics, they also actively explore different social issues.”

Following the opening of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Asian Film Awards will kick off on March 18^th, the opening night of FILMART, the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (March 18-21).

However, if Greater China’s mainstream fare isn’t quite your style, look no further than ChinaFile’s excellent recap of the best independent Chinese films of 2012.