Detective Dee Most Nominated for HK Film Awards

Nominees for the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards were announced on 8 February, and the action fantasy Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (狄仁杰之通天帝国) leads the way with 13 nominations. It was a golden year for action films with two other big budget martial arts actioners earning multiple nominations. Reign of Assassins (剑雨) earned 11 nominations, and Ip Man 2 (叶问2) has been nominated in 10 categories. In fact all five nominees for Best Film are action films, with the above three joined by the police drama The Stool Pigeon (线人) and the retro-martial arts film Gallants (打擂台). Gallants has already won Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Critics Awards announced last month.

Last year's Best Actor winner Nick Cheung (张家辉) is up for the award again, for his portrayal of a police detective suffering pangs of conscience in The Stool Pigeon. His co-star, Nicholas Tse (谢霆锋), who plays an informant in the movie, is also in the running, having already picked up a Hong Kong Performing Artists Guild award at the beginning of the year. Hong Kong superstars Chow Yun-Fat (周润发) and Jacky Cheung (张学友) are other nominees, Chow for his portrayal of Confucius in the biopic of the same name, and Cheung for his performance in the romantic comedy Crossing Hennessy.

Another Hong Kong big name Tony Leung Ka-Fai (梁家輝), a three-time Best Actor winner, has been nominated in two categories. As well as another Best Actor nomination for Bruce Lee, My Brother, Leung is also a Best Supporting Actor nominee for Detective Dee. He will face strong competition in the Supporting Actor category from Teddy Robin Kwan (泰迪罗宾) in Gallants, who won Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Critics awards for his performance.

The Best Actress category has several strong nominees. HK Film Critics winner Miriam Yeung (杨千嬅) leads the nominees for her performance in Love in a Puff. Fiona Sit (薛凯琪), who won a HK Performing Artist Guild Award for the romantic comedy Break Up Club, is also nominated. Carina Lau (刘嘉玲), who is now approaching veteran status after a career spanning more than 25 years, will be sentimental favourite. She has been nominated for her performance as the Tang Dynasty empress Wu Zetian in Detective Dee. It is her sixth Hong Kong Film Award nomination, an award that has so far eluded her. Other nominees are Josie Ho (何超仪) in the dark comedy/slasher film Dream Home, and mainland actress Tang Wei (汤唯) in Crossing Hennessy.

All the directors of the Best Film nominees are up for Best Director. They are Tsui Hark (Detective Dee), Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng (Gallants), Yip Wai-Shun (Ip Man 2), Su Chao-Pin (Reign of Assassins), and Dante Lam (The Stool Pigeon).

The full list of nominees can be found at this CRI English article. The awards will be announced on April 17.