[2025.01.14] SEAN LAU WINS HIS FIFTH HONG KONG FILM CRITICS SOCIETY AWARD BEST ACTOR

THE LAST DANCE has broken many records and is one of the recommended films
courtesy of singtao.com

Sean Lau wins Best Actor with PAPA and calls for everyone to support the film at the movies

Hedwig Tam wins her first Best Actress with MONTAGES OF A MODERN MOTHERHOOD 

TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN wins the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards Best Film

Philip Yung with PAPA wins Best Director

The Hong Kong Film Critics Society's Ten Recommended Films of the Year include ROB N ROLL, OBEDIENCE, FOUR TRAILS, THE WAY WE TALK, ALL SHALL BE WELL, LOVE LIES, PAPA, WINTER CHANT, THE LAST DANCE and AN ABANDONED TEAM

The 2024 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards announced the winners yesterday, Sean Lau Ching Wan won the Best Actor for PAPA, and MONTAGES OF A MODERN MOTHERHOOD (FU DUK BUT)'s Hedwig Tam Sin Yin won the Best Actress. TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN (GAU LUNG SING JAI JI WAI SING) won Best Film. Last year's highest-grossing film THE LAST DANCE (POR. DEI YUK) became one of the recommended movies and did not win any major awards. Lau Ching Wan defeated THE WAY WE TALK (HONG NGOR GUM TIN JUM MOR SUET)'s Neo Yau Hawk Sau by one vote to win Best Actor. The first time Film Critic Society Best Actor Lau Ching Wan thanked the Society, saying that PAPA was still in theaters and still more than HK$ 70 million before reaching HK$ 100 million. He called on everyone to support the film at the movies. Chung Suet Ying won the Golden Horse Film Award Best Actress last year with THE WAY WE TALK, but this time she lost to Tam Sin Yin by one vote. Tam Sin Yin was excited after winning Best Actress for the first time, and thanked the team of MONTAGES OF A MODERN MOTHERHOOD for achieving her first film award.

The Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards were announced its winners yesterday, with a total of 5 awards and 10 recommended films, including Best Film TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN, Best Actor Sean Lau Ching Wan of PAPA, Best Actress Hedwig Tam Sin Yin of MONTAGES OF A MODERN MOTHERHOOD, Best Director Philip Yung Tsz Kwong of PAPA, and Ryker Chan Wai Bun, Albert Mak Kai Kwong and Man Uen Ching won Best Screenplay for ROB N ROLL (LUM SI GIP ONG). As for the ten recommended movies, they included ROB N ROLL, OBEDIENCE (SUP FONG JI DEI), FOUR TRAILS (HEUNG GONG SEI GAING DAI BO JAU), THE WAY WE TALK (HONG NGOR GUM TIN JUM MOR SUET), ALL SHALL BE WELL (CHUNG GUM YI HAU), LOVE LIES (NGOR TAM DIK NA CHEUNG LUEN OI), PAPA, WINTER CHANTS (DONG MEI LOI), THE LAST DANCE (POR. DEI YUK), and AN ABANDONED TEAM (DUT CHUNG SIN SUN).

According to the Society, 46 Hong Kong films met the criteria of first run public ticketed screenings at Hong Kong cinemas with no less than 5 screenings held within a week. Finally, the best works revolved around the discussion were mainly 12 to 15 films. The five awards were all hotly contested, and the results were obtained after 9 hours of heated discussion and three rounds of voting. Each of the five finalists for Best Film had their own supporters, and in the end, the Soi Cheang Pou Soi directed TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN and the Yung Tsz Kwong directed PAPA faced off, with the former narrowly winning by a small number of votes to take the lead.

Yung Tsz Kwong with PAPA defeated THE WAY WE WALK's Adam Wong Sau Ping, OBEDIENCE's Wong Siu Bong and others to win Best Director. In terms of screenplay, ROB N ROLL stood out, beating LOVE LIES, ALL SHALL BE WELL and others to win Best Screenplay. Last year's highest-grossing film THE LAST DANCE was not nominated for more than 3 awards, but Michael Hui Koon Man and Michelle Wai Sze Nga were nominated for the third round of voting for Best Actor and Actress.

The audience considered Lau Ching Wan's performance in PAPA to be his "best performance of his film career", earlier he competed for Best Actor at the Tokyo International Film Festival and Asian Film Awards. The Film Critics Society said that Lau Ching Wan defeated THE WAY WE TALK's Neo Yau Hawk Sau by one vote to become the Best Actor, his fifth time after FULL ALERT (GO DOH GAI BEI), LA BRASSIERE (JUET SAI HO BRA), LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE (DUET MING GUM) and OVERHEARD 3 (SIT TING FUNG WON 3).

The Society said that in the face of the family tragedy, from the loss of consciousness and not understanding the reasons for the bad news at first glance, to the trauma of loneliness and loss of love, and the persistence of reluctance to reconcile, the actor had a great test with each plot turn. Lau Ching Wan with a "reserved" method to control his performance, displaying a low profile, sorrow and sense of life between silence and eruption, intricate and complex skill wise. The actor showed the understanding and digestion of unpredictability and love. In the past 10 years, Lau Ching Wan has repeatedly played the role of genre films. This Lau Ching Wan performance has a rarely seen aspect, especially his interaction with new actors; showing the power of the presence of top actors.

Lau Ching Wan thanked the Hong Kong Film Critics Society for his best actor award, "PAPA is still in theaters, and is still more than 70 million from being able to break 100 million. As the saying goes, 'where there's a will, there's a way.' I hope everyone would continue their support."

Tam Sin Yin won the Best Actress for her first film award. She defeated the Golden Horse Best Actress Chung Suet Ying by one vote. The Society said that Tam Sin Yin as the first time mother Suk Ching not only gained weight, but also showed the pain from the body to the heart in detail. In the face of parenting pressure and the conservative concept of gender division of labor, she went from disappointment to despair and gradually collapsed in the baby's cry. Tam Sin Yin gave this highly difficult role a strong appeal.

The first time Best Actress Tam Sin Yin emotionally thanked the team. "Thank you to director (Oliver) Chan Siu Kuen, who dares to cast me. Without you accompanying me to find Suk Ching, I wouldn't have been able to reach this step. Thank you for choosing me. Thank you to everyone involved in front of and behind the scenes of MONTAGES OF A MODERN MOTHERHOOD, the distribution company Golden Scene, my co-stars in the film, every Mamas who selflessly shared with me, and everyone who accompanied me step by step. Finally, thank you to my family for always letting me do what I want to do, and thank you to my mother. If there is a power in the award, I would like to give this little bit of power to every mother in the world so that you know that you are not alone."

PAPA won the Best Director, Best Actor and the Recommended Film of the Year awards, Yung Tsz Kwong was especially grateful to producer Amy Chin Siu Wai and co-producer Suen Fei, as he knew that he was a difficult director to manage; as well as the investors of this film. "I am very happy that Lau Ching Wan won the award, PAPA being appreciated is my biggest wish from making this movie. I hope that "Mama", "Son" and "Daughter" will have good luck at the Hong Kong Film Awards. PAPA is still in theaters, and I hope everyone will go to the theater to see this movie and support us to make another new movie."

The Ray Yeung Yiu Hoi directed film about lesibans in their twilight years, ALL SHALL BE WELL (CHUNG GUM YI HAU) was selected as one of the Recommended Films of the Year. He said that the team was very honored to be included in the list of recommended films by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society, and was delighted to witness a series of wonderful Hong Kong films releases that showcased a rich variety of subjects and styles and injected vitality into the local film industry last year. He hoped that more Hong Kong audiences would flock to cinemas in the coming year to support local films.

THE 2024 HONG KONG FILM CRITICS SOCIETY AWARDS
https://www.filmcritics.org.hk

BEST FILM: TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN

BEST DIRECTOR: Philip Yung (PAPA)

BEST SCREENPLAY: Ryker Chan, Albert Mak, Man Uen Ching (ROB N ROLL)

BEST ACTOR: Sean Lau (PAPA)

BEST ACTRESS: Hedwig Tam (MONTAGES OF A MODERN MOTHERHOOD)

RECOMMENDED FILMS: ROB N ROLL, OBEDIENCE, FOUR TRAILS, THE WAY WE TALK, ALL SHALL BE WELL, LOVE LIES, PAPA, WINTER CHANTS, THE LAST DANCE, AN ABANDONED TEAM