Court drama A Guilty Conscience picks up top prize at Hong Kong Film Awards while crime thriller The

“I felt the solidarity, which is very important. We should all work together in the production of a movie,” he said.

Dayo Wong Tsz-wah, who was nominated for best actor for his role as an acid-tongued lawyer in the film, also dedicated the award to the team.

“If I had been awarded best actor, I would also dedicate the award to the crew, because they had done so much for the movie, but now we have got an even better one,” he said.

The drama, which was nominated for 10 awards, tells the story of a lawyer trying to free a client who was wrongly convicted of murder due to his own negligence, but he has to go up against one of the most powerful families in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, The Goldfinger was nominated for 12 awards and took home some of the biggest ones – best actor, best visuals, best art direction, best costume and make-up design, best cinematography and best sound design.

Set in the 1980s, The Goldfinger is based on the city’s biggest financial scandal – the Carrian fraud case – in which a multibillion-dollar business goes from birth to bust in just a few years.

The film follows the journey of Henry Ching, played by Leung, the mastermind behind the scandal, and Lau Kai-yuen, played by Andy Lau, the principal investigator of the city’s graftbuster, which launches a full-scale investigation spanning 15 years.

Delivering his acceptance speech by video, Leung said he was very happy as it had been a long time since he had last received an award at that occasion. He thanked audiences for supporting him over the past four decades and his wife Carina Lau Ka-ling, who received the award on his behalf.

The Goldfinger’s big victory was followed by In Broad Daylight, a drama based on a true story about a reporter exposing cases of abuse in a care home for the elderly and disabled.

It received 16 nominations and brought home three, with Jennifer Yu Heung-ying awarded best actress for the first time, Rachel Leung Yung-ting taking best supporting actress, and David Chiang receiving the best supporting actor award.

Yu, who plays the role of an investigative journalist who uncovers the scandal, told the audience that she would dedicate her life to becoming a good actress.

Sunday’s show kicked off with Yoyo Tse Wing-yan grabbing the best new performer award for her role in Fly Me to the Moon.

She earlier took the same prize at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards and Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild Awards.

The 22-year-old played the role of Lam Tsz-yuen, a young migrant from mainland China who must balance her quest for happiness with the reality of living with her drug-addict father at home.

Overjoyed with the prize, Tse said in a backstage interview that she liked to “thank the whole world”.

Asian Film Awards: Hong Kong’s Nick Cheuk takes prize for best new director

Best new director went to Nick Cheuk Yik-him for his drama about family trauma and student suicide, Time Still Turns the Pages, which was nominated for best film, best actor, best director, and best screenplay, among others.

Time Still Turns the Pages tells the story of a teacher looking back at his repressed childhood memories as he finds an anonymous suicide note in the classroom and strives hard to prevent another tragedy from happening as he himself faces a series of family problems.

Cheuk also won the best new director award at the 60th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan last year, and took the same prize earlier at the Asian Film Awards.

His father, Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing, said he was very happy that Nick was being recognised.

“I was very happy when his film was nominated, and now even more delighted when he won the award. I hope he will continue to work hard and make more good films with other directors to make Hong Kong films prosperous,” he told the Post.

Best director went to Soi Cheang Pou-soi for mystery thriller Mad Fate. It tells the story of a fortune-teller who crosses paths with a young man with a strong desire to commit murder and tries to change the latter’s destiny. Best screenplay went to Yau Ni-hoi and Melvin Li for the film.

Tung Wai grabbed the best action choreography award for Bursting Point.

Controversial school documentary wins best picture at Hong Kong Film Awards

Taiwanese movie The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon won the award for best Asian Chinese-language film. The film is about a criminal who discovers he is only the third most wanted fugitive in Taiwan, and embarks on a journey to overtake the first two.

Allen Leung and David Richardson won best film editing for Mad Fate.

Meanwhile, veteran film costume manager Tong Ping received the “professional spirit award”. Popularly known as “Big Sister Ping” by many in the trade, Tong joined film production teams behind the scenes at the age of 27 and has worked for more than 43 years in over 400 films.

Tong accepted her award to a standing ovation from the audience. She thanked her family and all those who had supported her work.

Kung fu movie icon Sammo Hung Kam-bo, 72, received a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the Hong Kong film industry. He has been involved in more than 200 films – as actor, director, producer, martial arts choreographer and action director – over the course of a stellar career.

Hung received a standing ovation as he went up to collect his award. He told the audience: “I feel blessed to be able to work in the same sector for 60 years.”

Just nine when he started acting, Hung went on to become one of the best-known Hong Kong actors in the United States in the late 1990s with the success of the CBS TV series Martial Law, in which he played a Chinese detective on loan to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The local film industry enjoyed a rebound last year. With a return to post-pandemic normality and the full reopening of cinemas across the city, more films were able to be screened.

In 2023, 50 films were eligible to contend for the awards, marking a significant increase of about 50 per cent, compared with 33 the previous year.

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