MACAU: Chinese cinema’s leading lights dominated the winners’ podium at the star-studded Asian Film Awards on Wednesday, with local stars scooping three of the four top prizes in the glitzy gambling hub of Macau.

“The Golden Era”, a biopic of an acclaimed Chinese writer directed by Hong Kong’s Ann Hui, earned her the Best Director award, while the Best Movie gong went to “Blind Massage” from controversial director Lou Ye, a story based on the little-known industry in China that featured blind amateur actors.

Continuing China’s run of luck, the prize for Best Actor went to rising local star Liao Fan, who bagged the award for his role in cop thriller “Black Coal, Thin Ice”. Liao, who made his fame by winning the top acting award at the Berlin International Festival last year, said he was delighted to have won.

“I used my instincts to act. I will keep trying new roles”, he told reporters at the backstage after receiving the award. Hui, whose movie also had the most nominations with five, said she was ‘very happy’ with the director’s award.

She jokingly said she wanted to “donate” half of the trophy to the movie’s crew for their key role in making it a success. The awards, organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival and now in their ninth year.

South Korea’s Bae Doona took the Best Actress award for her portrayal of a police officer struggling in her male-dominated workplace after moving to a remote seaside town in “A Girl At My Door”.

She beat out Chinese favourites Gong Li, Zhao Wei and Tang Wei for the award, telling journalists: “I didn’t expect this... I am very happy,” and adding she hoped to act in movies “beyond boundaries”.

Satirical movie “Gone with the Bullets” set in 1920s Shanghai won the most gongs, including Best Visual Effects, Best Production Designer, and Best Costume Design.

Im Kwon-taek, the 78-year-old veteran director of “Painted Fire”, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for his transformational role in Korean cinema, while the Best Newcomer award went to Zhang Huiwen, who played the daughter of a man sent to a labour camp during the Cultural Revolution in “Coming Home”.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2015

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