HONG KONG • Hong Kong crime thriller Project Gutenberg garnered a whopping 17 nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards, which were announced on Tuesday.
The movie, on the story of a crime syndicate involved in money counterfeiting and its mysterious mastermind, was directed by Felix Chong, who is best known for writing the Infernal Affairs film trilogy (2002 to 2003). The movie stars Aaron Kwok and Chow Yun Fat.
It received nods for Best Film, Best Director (for Chong), Best Actor (both Kwok and Chow), Best Actress (Zhang Jingchu), Best Supporting Actor (Liu Kai Chi) and Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Chau).
The only two categories it missed out on were Best New Performer and Best New Director.
Men On The Dragon, a movie about four middle-aged men each dealing with a personal crisis, has the second-highest number of nominations at 11, including Best Film, Best Director (Sunny Chan), Best Actor (Francis Ng), Best Supporting Actor (Kenny Wong and Poon Chan Leung) and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Yu).
Others nominated for Best Film included Operation Red Sea, a Chinese military action film loosely based on the evacuation of Chinese citizens and other foreign nationals during the Yemeni Civil War; Three Husbands, the last film in director Fruit Chan's Prostitute Trilogy; and Still Human, a movie about a disabled man and his domestic helper in Hong Kong.
The directors of these three films - Dante Lam, Fruit Chan and Oliver Chan - are also vying for the Best Director award. Oliver Chan is also up for Best New Director, together with Sunny Chan of Men On The Dragon.
Anthony Wong, who plays the disabled man in Still Human, is up for the Best Actor award. Crisel Consunji, who plays the domestic helper, is up for Best Actress and Best New Performer.
Wong has won the Best Actor award twice. Kwok and Chow, two of his rivals in the category, are also former winners.
Chinese actress Chloe Maayan is up for Best Actress for her role in Three Husbands. Beside Zhang and Consunji, Charlene Choi (The Lady Improper) is also nominated in the category. Choi, one-half of the Cantopop duo Twins, has been nominated twice for the award.
Yu, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, is also nominated for Best Actress for her role in Distinction.
The 38th Hong Kong Film Awards will be held on April 14.
