Wang Xueqi Named Best Actor at Asian Film Awards

The 4th Annual Asian Film Awards, organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, were held last week. Although South Korea took home the most awards, including Best Film (Mother), Chinese actors were also prominent.

Mainland actor Wang Xueqi (王学圻, pictured right accepting his award) was named Best Actor for his performance as a tycoon and financial backer of revolutionaries in the Hong Kong action drama Bodyguards and Assassins. The Beijing-born Wang made his film debut back in 1984 in Yellow Earth, a film that heralded the beginning of the Fifth Generation movement in film. Since then his career has been steady rather than spectacular. However two years ago things really began to take off for him. Last year he was nominated at the 3rd Asian Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his memorial performance in Forever Enthralled. He then picked up a Best Actor award for Bodyguards and Assassins in January at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, and is one of the favourites to win Best Actor at the soon-to-be-announced Hong Kong Film Awards.

Another star of Bodyguards and Assassins, Nicholas Tse (谢霆锋, pinyin: Xiè Tíngfēng), was named Best Supporting Actor. The Hong Kong-born and Canadian and U.S raised Tse started his career as a singer. The 29 year-old has always shown promise as an actor, starting with his debut role in Young and Dangerous: The Prequel in 1998. That performance won him the Best New Performer at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and in 2006 he won Best Supporting Actor at the People's Hundred Flowers Awards playing Jackie Chan's sidekick in New Police Story. His on-screen career however has at times been overshadowed by his off-screen antics, including a short stint in prison for a dangerous driving incident.

Veteran actress Kara Hui (惠英红, pinyin: Huì Yīnghóng), inaugural Best Actress winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards back in 1982, was awarded Best Supporting Actress for her role in At the End of Daybreak, a Malaysian-Hong Kong-Korean co-production. Her performance has already won her a Best Supporting Actress award at Taiwan's Golden Horse awards late last year.

Also in At the End of Daybreak is Malaysia's rising star Jane Ng Meng Hui (黄明慧, pinyin: Huáng Mínghuì), who took home the award for Best Newcomer. Ng, who until recently was better-known in her homeland as an FM breakfast radio announcer, played a 15 year old schoolgirl in the film (in real life she's actually 27). At the End of Daybreak was her film debut.

The powerful City of Life and Death may have missed out on Best Film, but the film's director Lu Chuan (陆川) took home the Best Director award. The war drama which tells the story of the Nanjing Massacre is just Lu's third film, following on from his acclaimed second feature film, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol.

The Asian Film Awards also recognised two of China's most illustrious directors, John Woo (吴宇森, pinyin: Wú Yǔsēn) and Zhang Yimou (张艺谋) . Woo, along with co-producer Terence Chang, was named 2009's Top Grossing Film Director for the historical epic Red Cliff II. Zhang Yimou was honoured with a special award for Outstanding Contribution to Asian Cinema.

The full list of winners and nominees is at the Asian Film Awards website.

Locals Hold Their Own at 2nd Singapore Entertainment Awards

The 2nd Singapore Entertainment Awards were announced last week with awards announced for music, TV and movies. Two types of prizes were given - the most popular awards as voted by the public, and "Best of" awards voted by a panel of judges from the media.

In the popular awards, Singapore's own JJ Lin (pictured left) won two awards - Most Popular Local Singer and Most Popular Music Video. Another Singaporean, Stephanie Sun, was awarded Most Popular Female Singer while Taiwan's Show Luo was named Most Popular Male Singer. Hong Kong's Eason Chan won his usual suitcase-load of awards: Best Male Singer, Golden Chart Male Singer of the Year, Golden Chart Song of the Year (For You) and Best Album (5F/Blissful).

In the TV categories there were awards handed out to Hong Kong and Taiwan small screen stars. Two stars of the hit Hong Kong series Beyond the Realm of Conscience, Moses Chan and Charmaine Sheh, were named Most Popular Male and Female TV Actor respectively. In the Taiwan categories, Most Popular Male TV Actor was Mark Zhao, last seen in the crime drama Black and White. The Actress award went to singer/actor Rainie Yang, who starred in the romantic comedy series Hi My Sweetheart.

A selection of some of the main award winners are:
Most Popular Male Singer - Show Luo (罗志祥)
Most Popular Female Singer - Stephanie Sun (孙燕姿)
Most Popular Local Singer - JJ Lin (林俊杰)
Most Popular Band - Mayday (五月天)
Most Popular Group - S.H.E
Most Popular Regional Newcomer - Alien Huang (黄鸿升)
Most Popular Music Video - JJ Lin (林俊杰), However Many Hundred Days (第几个100 天)

Best Album - Eason Chan (陈奕迅), 5F/Blissful (上五楼的快活)
Best Local Singer - Tanya Chua (蔡健雅)
Best Male Singer - Eason Chan (陈奕迅)
Best Female Singer - Tanya Chua (蔡健雅)

Best Asian Movie - Mother (South Korea)

Most Popular Hong Kong TV Actor - Moses Chan (陈豪)
Most Popular Hong Kong TV Actress - Charmaine Sheh (佘诗曼)
Most Popular Taiwan TV Actor - Mark Chao (赵又廷)
Most Popular Taiwan TV Actress - Rainie Yang (杨丞琳)

Radio 100.3 U Chart Song of the Year - Kelvin Tan (陈伟联), Forever Friends (分手的情书)
Radio 100.3 Most Popular Song - Yoga Lin (林宥嘉), You Are What You Eat (看见什么吃什么)
Global Chinese Golden Chart Male Singer of the Year - Eason Chan (陈奕迅)
Global Chinese Golden Chart Female Singer of the Year - A-Mei (张惠妹)
Global Chinese Golden Chart New Generation Artistes Of the Year - Yoga Lin (林宥嘉) and Rachael Liang (梁文音)
Global Chinese Golden Chart Group of the Year - Mayday (五月天)
Global Chinese Golden Chart Song Of The Year - Eason Chan (陈奕迅), For You (给你)

The full list of winners can be found here (PDF file and in Chinese).

TVB General Manager Arrested in Corruption Case

Stephen Chan (陈志云, pinyin: Chén Zhìyún), a general manager with Hong Kong's largest TV network, TVB, has been arrested by Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Chan, three other TVB employees and an executive of an advertising and production company were all arrested on Thursday March 11 "in relation to corruption allegations". They are alleged to have cheated TVB out of HK$10 million (about US$1.3 million).

While ICAC has yet to release details of the case, the allegations are believed to centre on the actions of a shell company established by Chan and his cohorts. Chan is suspected of awarding TVB production contracts to his shell company, then outsourcing them to other production companies at a cheaper price and pocketing the difference. A second set of allegations is believed to concern the shell company's charging shopping centres and other promotional outlets appearance fees for TVB stars, but not passing the fees on to the stars. Stephen Chan may also be charged with accepting bribes.

As General Manager of broadcasting, a post he held from 2003, Chan was one of TVB's highest ranking executives. He was also the best known to the public, courtesty of a hosting role on the interview show Be My Guest. His dual role as executive and on-screen star was a controversial one, with critics claiming his hosting duties were distracting him from his management responsibilities. Only last month Chan had denied rumours that he would soon leave TVB.

The other four people arrested were TVB head of business development Wilson Chan, variety department executive producer Wilson Chin, TVB actor Ning Jin, and Edthancy Tseng Pei Kun, the director of Idea Empire advertising production company. ICAC has yet to lay any charges, but all four TVB employees were suspended by the station after the arrests.

Little Tigers Voted Favourite Act at CCTV New Year's Gala

CCTV's New Year's Gala (中国中央电视台春节联欢晚会) has become an institution for Chinese viewers, as symbolic of Spring Festival as dumplings and red envelopes. An estimated audience of 700 million tune in to watch the variety show every year on Chinese New Year's Eve. Its popularity may be slowly slipping, especially with the younger generation, but it remains the most talked about TV event in mainland China. Unknown acts can, with an impressive performance on the show, become instant sensations, while established stars vie for guest spots each year.

Two week's after the Gala, on Lantern Festival Day, CCTV hosts another variety program, the My Favourite Spring Festival Evening Show. At this ceremony the favourite acts in a variety of categories from the Gala show are announced. One of the biggest hits of this year's Gala show was the reunion of Taiwan's original boy band, Little Tigers (小虎队, pinyin: Xiǎo Hǔ Duì). The three-member group, made up of Benny Chen, Alec Su and Nicky Wu, formed in 1988 and were an instant success not just in Taiwan but across the Chinese-speaking world. Their career lasted just six years, but their popularity paved the way for a succession of boy bands.

On the New Year's Gala Show Little Tigers performed three of their biggest hits: Love, Fly Butterfly and Green Apple Paradise. They were voted the Favourite Act in the Song and Dance category, finishing ahead of another comeback star, Wang Fei. The wave of nostalgia their act provoked amongst viewers has sparked rumours that the trio may get back together permanently.

The Gala Show is as much about comedy skits as it is about music, and the king of comedy acts for this year, as voted by the viewers, was veteran performer Zhao Benshan (赵本山). It was the Gala Show that gave Zhao his first break back in 1987, and he has been a Gala Show stalwart ever since, appearing every year but one over the past 24 years. Born in 1958 in north-east China - the home of many of China's best comic performers - Zhao has also had a successful acting career. In 2007 he was nominated for Best Actor at Taiwan's Golden Horse awards for his performance in the drama-comedy Getting Home.

A third category awarded at the Lantern Festival show is the "Opera, Folk and Other" category. For the second year in a row Taiwanese magician Lu Chen (刘谦, pinyin: Liú Qiān) was voted the favourite act. The 33 year-old has had his own show on Taiwanese TV since 2003, but really hit the big-time last year on the Gala Show. His appearance launched a craze for magic acts, and magician classes reported a sudden increase in enrolments last year.

This year's performance by Lu Chen was not without its critics, including one of China's most outspoken writers, Han Han. Han criticised Lu's act as "an immense disappointment", "professionally unethical" and put on by "a bunch of swindlers". This outburst in turn provoked a curt but angry response from Lu Chen. The exchange is comprehensively covered by the excellent Danwei blog. To quote from Danwei, it wouldn't be "a proper CCTV Spring Festival Gala without a scandal or two".

(Source, in Chinese: this Yahoo article)

Show Luo: February Flavour of the Month

We're only two months into 2010, but already Show Luo's (罗志祥, pinyin: Luó Zhīxián) latest album Rashomon (罗生门, pinyin: Luóshēngmén) is a hot favourite to be this year's album of the year in Taiwan. Released in mid-January, the dance king's seventh studio album has spent the last six weeks at the top of the G Music album charts. Not only has it been the best-selling album for one and a half months, it's completely dominating album sales in Taiwan. Last week it accounted for a massive 36 percent of all record sales.

The album has also produced four singles, with the latest, Love Doesn't Travel Alone (愛不單行) holding top spot on the KKKBox Mandopop Singles Chart four weeks running. The song is taken from the Hi My Sweetheart TV series which recently finished it's moderately successful run (respectable rather than outstanding ratings). The versatile Luo also played the lead role in the series.

Other songs to chart from Rashomon are the debut single Love's Home Turf (愛的主場秀), an uptempo dance number, the second single, I'll Be Used To It (習慣就好), and Head Over Heels in Love (愛瘋頭), also from the Hi My Sweetheart soundtrack. In one week this month all four songs were in the Top 10 singles (source: this Cpop Access post).

Show Luo started the month winning search engine Baidu's number one prize at the Hot Point Awards. He was crowned Most Popular All-round Entertainer, reward for a very successful 2009. In fact, it would be safe to say that Luo is having the most successful period in his fifteen year career. And to top off the month for Luo, he was also voted "most desired lover" on one online Valentine's Day poll.

Show Luo began his career back in 1996 in a tribute band The Four Heavenly Kings (referring to four of Hong Kong's most popular singers from the 80s and 90s, introduced in this post), and made his acting debut in 1999. He launched his solo singing career in 2003, and around the same time began hosting popular variety show 100% Entertainment. Affectionately known by his fans as Little Pig (apparently he was a bit chubby as a child), Luo has won most of Taiwan's major prizes including the Golden Melody Award for Best Male Singer in 2007.

72 Tenants of Prosperity Crowned Lunar New Year Box Office King

In terms of box office returns, the Lunar New Year holiday is the biggest period of the year for the Hong Kong film industry. It has become a tradition to head to the movies, preferably to see a loud, over-the-top, sometimes stupid comedy, and cinema attendance numbers can be triple, even quadruple a normal week's takings.


This year pitted two Lunar New Year comedies up against each other - the latest instalment in the All's Well, Ends Well franchise, and 72 Tenants of Prosperity (72家租客). It was the latter, helped by an all-star cast and blanket advertising on TVB (one of the film's producers), which emerged as the box office champion. In the four-day period from February 13 (Lunar New Year's Eve) to February 16 it grossed HK$9.85 million (US$1.27 million), well ahead of All's Well, Ends Well Too 2010 (HK$6.57 million). It's four-day weekend figures are in fact the highest for a local film since Stephen Chow's C7 two years ago (also on a Lunar New Year weekend). 72 Tenants also had the honour of finally ending Avatar's 8 week reign as the top grossing film. (Box office figures are taken from the excellent Box Office Mojo website).

72 Tenants of Prosperity is loosely based on a fondly-remembered box office hit from almost 40 years ago, The House of 72 Tenants. It's co-directed by the versatile Eric Tsang (曾志伟, pinyin: Zēng Zhìwěi) - TV host, stand-up comedian, producer, ex-football player and stuntman, and star of numerous movies where he is equally as comfortable in violent gangster films as he is in comedies. Tsang also takes one of the central roles in 72 Tenants of Prosperity alongside singing/acting superstar Jacky Cheung (张学友, pinyin: Zhāng Xúeyǒu), Anita Yuen (袁咏仪, pinyin: Yuán Yǒngyí) as their love interest. The supporting cast is almost a who's who of Hong Kong entertainment - 174 stars according to the publicity - with TVB's stable of contracted talent especially prominent.

All's Well, Ends Well Too 2010 (花田囍事2010), to give it its full and unwieldly title, is the fifth in a series of All's Well, Ends Well movies, the first released almost 20 years ago in 1992. All five of them have been released to cash in on the Lunar New Year season. Despite not always finding favour with critics all have been profitable money-spinners for their makers. The latest stars Louis Koo and Sandra Ng and several other well-known faces from the Hong Kong entertainment scene.

Homegrown Monga Challenges Avatar at the Taiwanese Box Office

Taiwan's not known for its gangster films, but a new movie released earlier this month may change that. Monga (艋舺, pinyin: Měngjiá) - the title is the name of the notorious Taipei district where the film is set - is a crime film that has become a big box office hit in Taiwan. On its opening day on February 5 it raked in an impressive NT$8.3 million (about US$260,000), significantly more than the worldwide box office juggernaut Avatar collected on its first day (just under NT$7 million).

In Monga's first two weeks box office takings climbed to over NT$200 million, making it one of Taiwan's most successful films ever. It still has a long way to go however to catch Avatar. The US blockbuster, which is still running in Taiwanese cinemas, recently overtook Titanic to become the highest grossing film in Taiwan. Box office ticket sales have now passed NT$800 million since it first opened back in December. Strangely, Avatar's incredible success has probably benefitted Monga. As in many other countries, the phenomenal impact of Avatar has raised alarm in Taiwan over Hollywood's growing cultural dominance. So homegrown films like Monga have attracted publicity and a band of proud audiences keen to support the local product as a kind of counterweight to the American blockbusters.

Monga, which is as much a coming of age film as a gangster flic, takes place in the 1980s, an era lovingly recreated by the filmmakers. It stars up-and-coming actors Ethan Ruan (阮经天, pinyin: Ruǎn Jīngtiān) and Mark Zhao (赵又廷, pinyin: Zhào Yòutíng), both making their film debuts. 27 year-old Ruan has appeared in several TV shows, most notably the popular series Fated To Love You and My Queen. The 25 year-old Zhao appears to have the Midas touch when it comes to choosing roles. His career is just beginning but his TV debut last year - the police drama Black and White - was one of the most popular series of 2009 and won him a Golden Bell Award. Now he has struck gold again with his film debut. Monga is directed by Doze Niu (钮承泽), his second feature film and one in which he also casts himself as a memorable villain.

Monza is currently showing at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival. A review of the film by Variety can be found here.