[2025.01.09] SEVERAL PHENOMENA APPEAR ON THE HONG KONG FILM AWARDS 1ST ROUND VOTING BALLOT

Raymond Lam's TWILIGHT performance is eye catching and has hope for a nomination
courtesy of on.cc

Aside from Best Actor, more than half of MIRROR applied for Best New Performer nominations
courtesy of singtao.com

All 12 members of MIRROR applied for the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor nominations

Raymond Lam with TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN applied for the Best Actor category while Louis Koo retreats to Best Supporting Actor

THE LAST DANCE's Dayo Wong and Michael Wong apply for Best Actor nominations without a doubt

Chung Suet Ying won the Golden Horse Awards Best Actress with THE WAY WE TALK, and the film company has applied for Hong Kong Film Awards consideration in the same category.

Michelle Wai has won 4 Best Actress awards with THE LAST DANCE, who knows whether she would continue her momentum at the Hong Kong Film Awards

PAPA's Sean Lau and Jo Koo apply for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively
courtesy of mingpao.com

The first round of voting for the Hong Kong Film Awards, a major event in the film industry, is now underway. The "Hong Kong Film Awards votes" and "Professional Jury votes" each take up 50% of the first round voting, which would end on January 23rd. In order to get more opportunities to be nominated, film companies have spent all their efforts on their applications. One of the highlights of this year is the movie TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN (GAU LUNG SING JAI JI WAI SING)'s Raymond Lam Fung. He and Louis Koo Tin Lok are both the main characters of the film, but only Lam Fung is in the "best actor" column. Koo Tin Lok and other actors signed up for supporting roles, obviously wanting to win the "admission ticket" for Lam Fung's best actor nomination as much as possible! Although the film of Golden Horse Best Actress Chung Suet Ying has not been officially released in Hong Kong, she has obtained the application qualification with a "strange trick" to compete with the favorite Michelle Wai Sze Nga!

"The 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards" will be held on April 27th, the first round of voting is in full swing. All films officially released in Hong Kong in 2024 are eligible to apply, and the list of films has also been distributed to the "first round professional jury". For years film companies in order to fight for votes would come up with their own tricks when applying for each major category in hopes of increasing their chances of being nominated. This year has rather many special cases; among them for the already considered Hong Kong Film Award favorite, TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN (GAU LUNG SING JAI JI WAI SING) only applied for Raymond Lam Fung to compete for Best Actor. Main characters in the film, "Tornado" Louis Koo Tin Lok, signed up with Sammo Hung Kam Bo, Aaron Kwok Fu Sing, the "Three sons of the Walled City) Terrance Lau Chun Him, Tony Wu Tsz Tung and German Cheung Man Kit, Philip Ng Wan Lung and others to compete for the supporting role nomination. As Lam Fung's boss, Koo Tin Lok obviously does not want to "fight his own people" so Lam Fung has more chance to compete for the best actor! Another interesting thing is that although Lam Fung's two friends Bosco Wong Chak Chung and Ron Ng Cheuk Hei are not frequent movie guests, they both have films to compete for the best actor nomination. The three brothers have quite a connection.

Other Best Supporting Actor category applicants included THE LAST DANCE's Tommy Chu Pak Hong, Paul Chun Pui, and Michael Ning (Bak Ji), CRISIS NEGOTIATOR (TAM POON JUEN GA)'s Andy Lau Tak Wah and CUSTOM FRONTLINE (HOI GUAN JIN SIN)'s Francis Ng Chun Yu.

In addition to the special arrangements for the application of the film TWILIGHT, the same is true for the movie THE MOON THIEVES (DOH YUET JEH). Keung To only made a "special performance" in the film, but when applying, he is included in the leading actor column with Louis Cheung Kai Chung, MIchael Ning (Bak Ji), Anson Lo Hon Ting, and Edna Lui Cheuk On. Aaron Kwok Kwok Fu of ROB N ROLL (LUM SI GIP ONG) and Jackie Chan, the actor of the film with mediocre box office LEGEND, all have signed up along with good actors like Sean Lau Ching Wan and Francis Ng Chun Yu. There should be some competition!

Also high-profiled, the Emperor Motion Picture THE LAST DANCE (POR. DEI YUK)'s lead actress Michelle Wai Sze Nga has swept the "Asia- Pacific Film Festival", "New Era Golden Flowering Award", "Macao International Film Festival" and "Huading Award" Best Actress awards with her film. Thus this time for her Best Actress application for the Hong Kong Film Awards, she could be described as "sitting pretty" with the nomination and also a great chance to win the award. However Chung Suet Ying just won the Taiwan Golden Horse Award in November last year. Although not officially released yet, her film THE WAY WE TALK (HONG NGOR GUM TIN JUM MOR SUET) was screened at least 5 times in regular screening film venues last year and thus was also eligible to apply. With the momentum of the Golden Horse Awards, she is qualified to compete with Wai Sze Nga! Chung Suet Ying also applied for Best Supporting Actress with THE LAST DANCE along with her co-stars Elaine Jin (Kam Yin Ling), Catherine Chau Ka Yee, Rosa Velasco (Wai Law Sha) and Rachel Leung Yung Ting. Other Best Actress applicants included LOVE LIES (NGOR TAM DIK NA CHEUNG LUEN OI)'s Sandra Ng Kwan Yu, ALL SHALL BE WELL (CHUNG GUM YI HAU)'s Patra Au Ga Man, CESIUM FALLOUT (FUN SING)'s Karen Mok Man Wai, AN ABANDONED TEAM (DUT CHUNG SIN SUN)'s Amy Lo Wai Man, CUSTOM FRONTLINE (HOI GUAN JIN SIN)'s Karena Lam Ka Yun and Cya Liu. Girl group COLLAR last year had individual members made their film debuts, including BLOSSOMS UNDER SOMEWHERE (GEI LIU YUT JING GOR CHUN TIN)'s Marf Yau Yin Tung and POSSESSION STREET (CHEH MALL)'s Candy Wong Ka Ching. Both applied for Best Actress and Best New Performer.

In addition to the "placement" of the actor award applications, many films also choose to apply in "big piles", among which WE 12 starring all members of the guy group MIRROR listed the names of 12 members on the application for the actor category of the Hong Kong Film Awards. Members who made their film debuts Alton Wong Chi Tak, Ian Chan Cheuk Yin, Frankie Chan Shui Fai, Jeremy Lee Chun Kit, Tiger Yau Ngo Yin and Stanley Yau Si Chun, almost half of MIRROR, applied for Best New Performer. The movie ROB N ROLL (LIM SI GIP ONG) has 10 artists such as Michael Wong Man Tak and Deon Cheung Chung Chi who applied for supporting actors at the same time, which is on par with the movie TALES OF TAIPEI. Because multiple applicants for the same film in the same categories might lead to a problem of splitting up the votes, such a mass application situation is quite rare.

Having just won the Gold Award for Male Singer at the beginning of the year, Ian Chan Cheuk Yin stepped into the film industry for the first time last year. He had two films WE 12 (12 GWAI TO) and LAST SONG FOR YOU (GAU BIT CHUNG FUNG) respectively, applied for "Best Actor" and "Best New Actor" with WE, and also applied for "Best New Actor", "Best Supporting Actor" and "Original Film Song" with LAST. In other words, he had a total of 5 bids in 4 categories. Many online pointed out that Dior Cheng Yee Kin and Ian played middle-aged and youth version of the role respectively in the film, each played half of the film but Ian was added to the "supporting actor" category. The competition for supporting actor nominations this year has been very fierce, Ian's chances of winning are not high.

Regardless of whether he can be nominated in the end, Ian's fans are already excited. They even left a message on social platforms saying that the film LAST was released in December last year, just in time to apply for the Academy Awards. They expressed that it was " lucky" and cheering for their idol.

Other film applicants included LAST SONG FOR YOU's Dior Cheng Yee Kin and Natalie Hsu (Hui Yan Yee) for Best Actor and Actress. PAPA's Sean Lau Ching Wan applied for Best Actor, his on screen wife Jo Koo (Kok Cho Lam) and daughter Lainey Hung Lok Hei, Tam Yuk Ying, Chan Lai Wun all applied for Supporting Actress; Stephy Tang Lai Yan with TABLE FOR SIX 2 (FAN HEI GUNG SUM 2) and LITTLE RED SWEET (HUNG DAU) applied for Best Actress, and Lin Minchen with WISH COMES TRUE (BA HUNG FOOK LAI GUNG YUT DIM) and HAUNTING CALL (SAU GEI GEIN GWAI) applied for Best Actress category.