Zhang Yimou's CliffWalkers is big winner

XIAMEN • Chinese spy thriller Cliff Walkers, directed by Zhang Yimou, was a major winner at China's 34th Golden Rooster Awards, the country's top film awards.

The film, set in the 1930s in north-east China's Harbin during the Japanese invasion, won Best Director for Zhang, Best Actor for Zhang Yi as well as Best Cinematography.

The award was Zhang Yimou's fourth in the Best Director category, having won for Not One Less in 1999, The Road Home in 2000 and Hero in 2003.

But Cliff Walkers lost out in the Best Feature Film category, with the award going to Island Keeper, a patriotic film about a couple who has been guarding a small Chinese islet for more than 30 years. Directed by Chen Li, the movie stars Liu Ye and Gong Zhe.

The winners were announced on Thursday evening in the city of Xiamen in Fujian Province.

The Best Actress honour went to Zhang Xiaofei of comedy Hi, Mom, the third-highest-grossing film of last year globally, after Spider-Man: No Way Home and war movie The Battle At Lake Changjin.

Hong Kong actor Nicholas Tse, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for crime-action film Raging Fire, lost out to Chinese actor Fan Wei of the drama One Second, which was also directed by Zhang Yimou.

The Best Supporting Actress award went to Chinese actress Zhu Yuanyuan of coming-of-age movie Sister.

This year's Golden Rooster Awards introduced the Best International Film award for the first time. It went to The Father, which stars Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.

The movie, which won lead actor Hopkins an Oscar, is a French-British co-production which tells the story of a man who refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages.

XINHUA