[2026.02.11] HONG KONG "URBAN LEGEND" FILMS LEAD THE 44TH HONG KONG FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Louis Cheung appears at the press conference

Edan Lui jokes that because the official announcement has no pinyin, he is stunned for a moment
courtesy of on.cc

The Juno Mak directed SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT leads with 12 nominations. He is again nominated for Best New Director with the film

Louis Koo gets two shots at Best Actor with BACK TO THE PAST and BEHIND THE SHADOWS

Fala Chen is nominated for Best Actress for the first time, clashing head on with Zhang Ziyi

Edan Lui and Michelle Wai are the hosts who announce the nominations. When Michelle Wai reads her good friend Carlos Chan's name for Best Actor nominees, she cannot help but break down and cry.

Nominated for Best Actor for the second time, Louis Cheung plainly says that he wants to win

Carlos Chan and Fish Liew with SOMEONE LIKE ME are nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress

Joyce Tang has been in the business for over 30 years but is nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Supporting Actress for the first time

Ali Lee has never even thought of being nominated for Best New Performer

Alex To says that the Best Supporting Actor nomination is the best birthday present

Derek Yee says that the first round effective voting rate is less than 50% and calls for eligible voters to enthusiastically participate
courtesy of mingpao.com

The "44th Hong Kong Film Awards Presentation" will be held at the Hong Kong Cultural Center on April 19th. The 18 award categories' nominations were announced yesterday, of which SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT (FUNG LUM FOR SHAN received the most nominations with a total of 12, followed by BACK TO THE PAST (CHUM CHUN GEI) with 11 nominations. Both were nominated for Best Film. Another so-called Hong Kong urban legend film CIAO UFO (JOI GEIN UFO) received 10 nominations.

For this year's "Best Actor", Louis Koo Tin Lok was nominated for BACK TO THE PAST and BEHIND THE SHADOWS (SI GA JING TAM) at the same time and greatly increased his chances of winning, but there is still competition with the superb performance of Best Actor Tony Leung Ka Fai in THE SHADOW'S EDGE (BO FUNG JUI YING), as well as the two dark horses of GOLDEN BOY (GUM TUNG)'s Louis Cheung Kai Chung and SOEMONE LIKE ME (JEUNG NGOR JEH YEUNG DIK OI CHING)'s Carlos Chan Ka Lok. The "Best Actress" focus would be on Ma Li, who is accustomed to acting in comedy, playing the lifelong struggle of DUMPLING QUEEN (SHUI GAU WONG HAU); Zhang Ziyi was nominated for Best Actress again for SHE'S GOT NO NAME after winning the Hong Kong Award in 2013 with THE GRANDMASTERS (YUT DI JUNG SI); and Fala Chen was nominated for Best Actress for the first time for PEG O' MY HEART (SHOOK MUNG), a brilliant performance with her mad interpretation. Fish Liew Chi Yu in SOMEONE LIKE ME as a cerebral palsy patient and Natalie Hsu (Hui Yan Yi) as a muscular dystrophy girl in MY FIRST OF MAY (MO MING JI) are nominated for Best Actress, the new generation of actors are also favorites.

The Hong Kong Film Awards invited last year's Best Actress Michelle Wai Sze Nga and Edan Lui Cheuk On as special guests to announce the nomination list. When Wai Sze Nga announced the nomination for "Best Actor", she was so excited that she shed tears; all because she saw her friend Chan Ka Lok on the nomination list. She said that she has imagined this would happen at home, and kept telling herself to be professional. She was truly sorry but was happy for Chan Ka Lok. Chan Ka Lok said that he was very grateful to be nominated for SOMEONE LIKE ME. "This performance allowed me to meet many peers worth learning from, thank you to the director, Fish and other actors, and the staff in front of and behind the scenes for making this film possible, and also giving me an important experience in acting."

Louis Cheung Kai Chung attended the press conference yesterday. When the event announced that a Best Actor nomination for him, he admitted that he was emotional and really wanted to win. "Just now my acting has already erupted. Originally as soon as I heard I really wanted to scream 'Yes", but I held myself down. I had to use my acting to suppress my emotions and not to embarrass myself. I kept convoluting, I was very touched. Seeing (Ali) Lee Kai Sum, (Locker) Lam Ka Hei being nominated I was very happy too. Of course GOLDEN BOY's nomination was even more meaningful. The most moving was that the entire team has worked very hard. While thanking the audience viewers also gave me a lot of strength. This is particularly meaningful to me. Not that I am expecting to 'sit to keep people company', with the nomination I already have to celebrate." Speaking of the numerous nominees, he said that everyone was strong; especially Koo Tin Lok. "Boss Koo even has two nominations. He isn't just an actor, but a boss as well. He has helped everyone a lot." Speaking of his confidence, Cheung Kai Chung admitted that he really wanted to win. "This time I want to. I have received private messages from Academy of Performing Arts juniors, saying that they really want to see me win. If it would truly happen it could serve as encouragement for people who have endured for a long time but are constantly overlooked like me, and make them feel that their own lives are very exciting. If I win it would have a little encouragement effect."

Koo Tin Lok said about learning about his "double nominations". "I am very happy! Very joyful! Double the happiness double the joy!" Tony Leung Ka Fai was nominated for Best Actor for THE SHADOW'S EDGE (BO FUNG JOOK YING). He was happiest to learn that friends he knew were on the nomination list, including the actors in SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT and THE SHADOW'S EGE. As an actor, to be able to have a film that is nominated and receive everyone's recognition is something to be happy about. BACK TO THE PAST's Raymond Lam Fung and MY FIRST OF MAY's Aaron Kwok Fu Sing were not nominated for Best Actor, which surprised many online.

Fala Chen said, "Returning to Hong Kong to make a Hong Kong film after 10 years, I am very moved to be nominated. I am very grateful to my colleagues and audiences in Hong Kong for not forgetting me, and I am also very grateful to director Cheung Ka Fai and producer (Claudie) Chung Chun for giving me this opportunity. Thank you to the whole team for making my role so three-dimensional and rich." Liew Chi Yu was on a plane during the announcement, upon landing she received a sea of congratulations and was emotional. "The text messages flooded in, now I am very excited and grateful. I am stuttering!" She got more emotional as she spoke. She even got choked up. "16 years in the business, during which I have fantasized about being nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor. I never would have guessed that today it really happened. I am grateful to have run into this character. I feel I have been very lucky the past few years, grateful to have run into the good, the bad and the setbacks that have become important material I design characters with. I feel like I have already won. I am in Malaysia right now, tonight I can have dinner with my parents!"

In addition, Kara Hui (Wai Ying Hung) was nominated for "Best Supporting Actress" for DUMPLING QUEEN (SHUI GAU WONG HAU). "I'm so happy, so excited! Because being nominated for the Hong Kong Awards again is the greatest honor for an actor, I hope to do my best. I feel that the nomination is already an honor, thank you everyone."

Joyce Tang Lai Ming with BACK TO THE PAST got her Best Supporting Actress ticket and would compete with the likes of SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT's Nina Paw Hee Ching, which surprised her very much. "I am very happy. First I want to thank Mr. Koo (Koo Tin Lok), if not this movie of his, I would be able to reach the big screen. This year would be my 30th year at TVB, it's a very special year. (Other nominees are great actors too.) I would give anything a try, thank you everyone."

Alex To Tak Wai was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor" for SONS OF THE NEON NIGHTS, and he regarded it as a great birthday gift on his birthday yesterday. The appreciation for his performance in the film was also a great encouragement in his career. "I never would have guessed that at this stage in life I could still have a first time. I never even thought about it. I am so excited, it's a great birthday present, and a great encourage in my career." Nominated with CIAO UFO (JOI GEIN UFO), Wong Yau Nam was excited and took the opportunity to call for everyone to support the movie at the theaters more. FIGHT FOR TOMORROW (PING MING SAM LONG)'s Locker Lam Ka Hei said, "The recognition of this nomination would make me believe in this thing called hard work."

Ben Yuen Fu Wah with the role of "Uncle Tong Shui" in DUMPLING QUEEN has already won the Golden Rooster Awards Best Supporting Actor. This time he has been nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards as well, naturally his chances have been elevated. He said, "Thank you voters and viewers for liking this character of mine. I have to thank even more my manager who has been fighting with me for 10 years. We have reached today together, which hasn't been easy at all. I hope to perform in more good films and characters in the future."

Peter Chan Charm Man thanked his colleagues for their encouragement after learning that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor with CIAO UFO. "Once again I am reminded that no matter how difficult the environment is, I can always continue on the journey."

Television Best Actress Ali Lee Kai Sum was nominated with GOLDEN BOY for Best New Performer. She said that she has never thought about being nominated. "At the time I was working on dramas at the previous company until dark, one of the days was scheduled to make GOLDEN BOY. In the film I only appeared in Cheung Kai Chung's memory, with very little screen time. I couldn't warm up or watching the before or after footage to decide how to perform at all. We shot as soon as I arrived. Being nominated is quite a surprise."

Edan Lui Cheuk On yesterday was the Hong Kong Film Awards press conference guest and announced the nominations. Although he said that he was super nervous, his performance was decent. Even Thai could not stump him. Although someone on hand said he sounded like he was speaking Japanese, he won with his calmness and received a lot of applause. He said that it was a great challenge and that Wai Sze Nga asked her Thai friend for help.

Edan said that for this event, he did a lot of preparation before hand. "I spent a lot of time on practice. Because it has names of people from many different places, I recited for a long time earlier. Since I didn't have the nomination lists yet, I had to recite them all. The staff was great and gave me pinyin, but during the announcement, the names didn't have pinyin. So I had to improvise some of them. If I misread any I am sorry." He hoped that his MIRROR teammate Stanley Yau Si Chun would be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, unfortunately he did not get his wish.

Best Actress Shu Qi's directing debut GIRL was based on a true story. Last year she participated in the Venice and Busan International Film Festival, then received a decent response at the Golden Horse Awards in Tawian. Yesterday when the Hong Kong Film Awards nominations were announced, Shu Qi "hit a triple", including "Best New Director", "Best Director" and "Best Screenplay". She posted her excitement on social platform. "Grateful, thank you and I am touched. Thank you Hong Kong classmates."

Best Actor Nick Cheung Ka Fai in his directed and starred film even sang its theme song I CAN NEVER FALL ASLEEP. Earlier when he attended the Milan Fashion Week he revealed that someone reminded him if he was nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Original Film Song, he would have to sing at the ceremony. He joked that he felt awkward just thinking about that. With the nominations announced yesterday, Ka Fai successfully changed lanes and was nominated for Best Original Film Song and immediately became a hot topic online.

In addition, last month the Hong Kong Film Awards were revealed to have disqualified 4 films that were eligible for nominations, MOTHER BHUMI, VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH (BUT SEH JI JUI), FINCH AND MIDLAND (GUM TIN YING GOI HUNG GO HING) and VITAL SIGNS (SUNG YUEN TOH JUNG). The association has never responded. Yesterday the board of directors chair Derek Yee Tung Sing said that the Association has increased its membership to 17, with 2064 eligible voting industry insiders. Yet the first round's effective vote count was only 989 ballots, around 47.95%, a 17% decrease from 64.84% last year. He called for everyone's enthusiastic participation in the second round voting.

Was the voting efficiency decline this year related to 4 films' disqualifications? Yee Tung Sing said, "Really? You have to ask the person who spread the rumor about the rumor." He said that basically movies that have been released in Hong Kong would be eligible. "In the past month, I have been thinking about how to respond but I couldn't think of a way that would please everyone. So I decided not to publicly respond." Then he quoted Diamond Sutra, "If one sees all phenomena as non-phenomena, one sees the Tathagata." Such a mysterious answer of course might not be accepted to the outside.

Yee Tung Sing said that before this year's nominations were unveiled, he kept inspecting film release information and found that since some films were made several years ago, or were not released so they had no information. Data collection became very difficult. This year so far has had very few film production starts, so several years ago he has already begun to consider if not reaching the bottom line quantity of 30 films, the Hong Kong Film Awards might change operation format. "The award show requires 8 figures, if the quantity is too low the event might scale down. This year 47 films were eligible, less than last year. I have also mentioned making the event biannual, before reaching this stage we would do our best to keep it going." He admitted that finding sponsorships have been difficult, and the government assistance has not arrived. "I don't know how much it would be yet. I am not speaking for the government, but I believe it doesn't have enough personnel to handle it. I have heard other units have had delays as well. Actually every year we have applied for no more than HK$ 10 million, I don't know how much would be cut. We have reached HK$ 6 million, and we have reached HK$ 80 million before. It's always up and down."

Yee Tung Sing admitted that the Hong Kong Film Awards has been operating in the red, and the commercial market still has not fully recovered. "I feel keep asking the government for money isn't too good, unfortunately our market hasn't been good. If the market is good finding sponsorship actually wouldn't be hard. I feel we should be self reliant. I don't want to beg people for money every year. I have considered making the event fully commercial, but some colleagues have said that we have become more and more avaricious."

THE 44TH HONG KONG FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS
http://hkfaa.com/winnerlist.html

BEST FILM
• ANOTHER WORLD
• CIAO UFO
• SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT
• BACK TO THE PAST
• SHE'S GOT NO NAME

BEST DIRECTOR
• Shu Qi (GIRL)
• Tommy Ng Kai Chung (ANOTHER WORLD)
• Patrick Leung Pak Kin (CIAO, UFO)
• Jonathan Li, Chou Man Yu (BEHIND THE SHADOWS))
• Peter Ho-sun Chan, Han Shuai (SHE'S GOT NO NAME)

BEST SCREENPLAY
• Kwok Ka Hei, Jack Lee Chun Kit, Ho Siu Hong, Choi Ka Hang Devon (UNIDENTIFIED MURDER)
• Shu Qi (GIRL)
• Polly Yeung (ANOTHER WORLD)
• Kong Ho Yan, Amy Chin (CIAO, UFO)
• Chou Man Yu (BEHIND THE SHADOWS)

BEST ACTOR
• Louis Koo (BEHIND THE SHADOWS)
• Cheung Kai Chung Louis (GOLDEN BOY)
• Leung Ka Fai Tony (THE SHADOW'S EDGE)
• Louis Koo (BACK TO THE PAST)
• Carlos Chan (SOMEONE LIKE ME)

BEST ACTRESS
• Ma Li (THE DUMPLING QUEEN)
• Natalie Hsu (MY FIRST OF MAY)
• Fish Liew (SOMEONE LIKE ME)
• Zhang Ziyi (SHE'S GOT NO NAME)
• Fala Chen (PEG O' MY HEART)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Chan Charm Man Peter (UNIDENTIFIED MURDER)
• Ben Yuen (THE DUMPLING QUEEN)
• Wong You Nam (CIAO UFO)
• Locker Lam (FIGHT FOR TOMORROW)
• Alex To (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Elizabeth Tang (GIRLFRIENDS)
• Kara Wai (THE DUMPLING QUEEN)
• Michelle Wai (CIAO UFO)
• Nina Paw (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Joyce Tang (BACK TO THE PAST)

BEST NEW PERFORMER
• Elizabeth Tang (GIRLFRIENDS)
• Lee Kai Sum Ali (GOLDEN BOY)
• Li Zhekun (THE SHADOW'S EDGE)
• Chau Tsz Yuet (PASS AND GOAL)
• So Tsz Yan (FOR ALICE)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
• Yu Jing Pin (GIRL)
• Leung Ming Kai (CIAO UFO)
• Sion Michel、Richard Bluck (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Kenny Tse (BACK TO THE PAST)
• Jake Pollock (SHE'S GOT NO NAME)

BEST FILM EDITING
• Derek Hui, Joe Zhou, To To (CIAO UFO)
• Chang Suk Ping William (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Zhang Yibo (THE SHADOW'S EDGE)
• Wong Hoi, Kenny Lok (BACK TO THE PAST)
• Chang Suk Ping William, Zhang Yibo (SHE'S GOT NO NAME)

BEST ART DIRECTION
• Step C. (ANOTHER WORLD)
• Man Lim Chung, Jasper Tsang (MEASURE IN LOVE)
• Juno Mak, Yee Chung Man, Chow Sai Hung Ambrose, Jona Sees (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Lam Wai Kin (BACK TO THE PAST)
• Sun Li, Lau Man Hung (SHE'S GOT NO NAME)

BEST COSTUME AND MAKEUP DESIGN
• Man Lim Chung, So Chun Yan (MEASURE IN LOVE)
• SoMad, Uma Wang (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Cheung Siu Hong (BACK TO THE PAST)
• Dora Ng (SHE'S GOT NO NAME)
• Boey Wong (PEG O' MY HEART)

BEST ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY
• Jack Wong Wai Leung (GOLDEN BOY)
• Tang Sui Wa, Xiong Xin Xin (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Su Hang (THE SHADOW'S EDGE)
• Sammo Hung (BACK TO THE PAST)
• Ken Law Ho Ming (GOOD GAME)

BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE
• Chou Liting, CMgroovy, Vicky Fung (ANOTHER WORLD)
• Wan Pin Chu (MEASURE IN LOVE)
• Tsui Chin Hung (CIAO UFO)
• Ryuichi Sakamoto, Nate Connelly (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Chan Kwong Wing, Kay Chan, Christopher Lai (BACK TO THE PAST)

BEST ORIGINAL FILM SONG
• ORDINARY PEOPLE (GIRLFRIENDS)
  Composer, Lyricist, Vocal Artist：Panther Chan
• UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN (ANOTHER WORLD)
  Composer, Lyricist：Vicky Fung
  Vocal Artist：Claudia Ng
• BLINK OF ETERNITY (MEASURE IN LOVE)
  Composer：Wan Pin Chu, JJ Lin
  Lyricist：Yvonne Lin
  Vocal Artist：JJ Lin
• WAH FU ONE (CIAO, UFO)
  Composer：Tsui Chin Hung
  Lyricist：Leung Pak Kin
  Vocal Artist：Feanna Wong
• LAK1 KAK1 (BLOSSOMS UNDER SOMEWHERE) I CAN NEVER FALL ASLEEP (PEG O' MY HEART)
  Composer：Mark Lui
  Lyricist：Zhu Lin
  Vocal Artist：Nick Cheung

BEST SOUND DESIGN
• Yiu Chun Hin, Cheung Man Hoi (ANOTHER WORLD)
• Nopawat Likitwong、Poolpetch Hatthakitkosol、Dhanarat Dhitirojana (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Wang Yanwei, Belle Lau (THE SHADOW'S EDGE)
• Terry Shek (BACK TO THE PAST)
• James Ashton (OPERATION HADAL)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
• Water Chan (CIAO, UFO)
• Enoch Chan, Yu Yat Tung, Chris Chow, Lai Tsz Fei Felix (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Dave Kwok Wai Ting, Jules Lin, Yee Kwok Leung, Kwok Tai (BACK TO THE PAST)
• Leung Chung Man (GOOD GAME)
• Dennis Yeung, Dennis Yeung (PEG O' MY HEART)

BEST NEW DIRECTOR
• Shu Qi (GIRL)
• Tommy Ng Kai Chung (ANOTHER WORLD)
• Kung Siu Ping (MEASURE IN LOVE)
• Juno Mak (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
• Kwok Ka Hei, Jack Lee Chun Kit (UNIDENTIFIED MURDER)