April 19th, 2015
The Golden Rock 2015 Hong Kong Film Awards Live Blog (Now complete)
This is the real thing! There’s only one way to see the latest post, and that’s reloading the page. Clearly, I win at the internet.
Scroll from the bottom up for easier reading, especially if you’re trying to follow four and a half hours worth of updates. Good luck.
22:55: One bottle of beer and two bottles of red wine later, we’re finished with another Hong Kong Film Awards live blog! Thank you all for following, and good night! Time to write my news story now!
22:53: And the winner of Best Film is: GOLDEN ERA. Five awards in total.
22:52: Leave it to Sandra Ng to make the universal suffrage joke.
22:48: Final Award of the night! It’s time for Best Film. Sandra Ng presenting solo.
“Give it to Peter! Give it to Peter!” DF chants.
22:46: She’s going to read all the names that she didn’t get to read at the Golden Horse Awards (she didn’t win AND she was shooting a film in the States).
22:43: The winner of Best Actress is: VICKI ZHAO for DEAREST.
My guests are convinced that Charlene Choi’s tears in SARA are CG’d.
22:42: “I wonder if she says ‘I let you ____ me’ when she argues with her boyfriend” - Nick Cheung
22:40: Sammi Cheng and Nick Chueng on stage now to present Best Actress.
22:35: We may actually make it to the end of this thing before 11 pm!
22:34: “Every time I take off somewhere on my spaceship…you always have a way to bring me back to Earth.” - Lau Ching Wan to his wife.
22:33: “We opened the New York Asian Film Festival last year with OVERHEARD 3. We clearly made the right choice!!!” - DF.
22:31: “I’m so happy that I have some female audiences now, but are you sure you didn’t mistake me for Louis Koo?” - Lau Ching Wan to the LITTLE BIG MASTER girls.
22:30: And the winner for Best Actor is: LAU CHING WAN for OVERHEARD 3. Third award for the film.
My guests were both supporting Huang Bo.
22:28: Each of the child chooses their ideal winner on stage.
22:27: Time for the Best Actor award. Miriam Yeung and the five LITTLE BIG MASTER kids presenting.
22:24: “Honestly, this award won’t make me that much happier, but this is an encouragement. The film may not be perfect, it may be flawed, this film represents a risk worth pursuing.”- Ann Hui
My guests are genuinely shocked. They think Peter Chan should’ve won.
“Community award!” - CS.
22:22: And the Best Director award goes to: ANN HUI for GOLDEN ERA. Fourth award for the film tonight.
22:21: I can’t really translate what Anthony Wong said, but brilliant as always. Best Director award now.
22:18: Last year, Anthony Wong gave a pretty inflammatory monologue. Looks like he’s going to be doing the same this year.
22:16: And we’re at Best Director now.
Anthony Wong (Chau-sang) on stage to present. Let’s see what he comes up with this year.
22:08: And the Best Film from Mainland and Taiwan goes to: COMING HOME. Representative from Edko Films accepted the award.
22:05: Sylvia Chang on stage now to present the Best Film from Mainland China and Taiwan award.
22:03: Richie Ren still on stage for Best Original Song. This may be Ivana Wong’s third win.
And the winner of Best Original Film Song is: ABERDEEN. Ivana Wong goes home two-for-three.
22:02: I’m a huge fan of Ellen Loo, so I’m happy to see her win.
22:00: “They gave it for Space Oddity la” - DF, about the Best Original Score award.
21:58: And the winner of the Best Original Film Score is: THE MIDNIGHT AFTER, the first award for the film tonight.
21:56: Richie Ren on stage to present Best Original Film Score. Speaking in Cantonese.
21:54: Hosts doing a slightly lame gag with old HK film theme songs.
21:53: James Wong tribute performers: Yoyo Sham, Aga, J. Arie and Phil Lam.
21:52: “Looks like Hong Kong music will die before Hong Kong cinema.” - CS, after the James Wong tribute.
21:49: And we just opened our second bottle of red wine.
21:43: Wong died in November 2004, so I assume this is for the 10th anniversary of his death.
21:41: James Wong’s daughter comes out to start the proceedings. Several musicians and singers will be covering his biggest hits.
21:40 Hour 3 starting with the tribute to James Wong.
21:39: Keeping count. The producers have cut off two live performances and two presenters’ speeches tonight.
21:35: My guests having a laugh that a certain producer still getting called a certain director’s wife. Ouch.
21:32: Lee Kwan Long was the props man on all Tsui Hark films. He’s an innovator in terms of robotics and props in HK cinema, including the underwater horse in YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE and the wires in ZU WARRIORS.
21:31: The directing panel messes up again, cutting off Tsui Hark’s speech. This is the second time this has happened.
21:29: Professional Achievement Award now, to be given to veteran props man Lee Kwan Long, a.k.a. “Props Dragon” or “Wire Dragon” or “Set Dragon” or “Special Effects Dragon”
Tsui Hark presenting the award.
21:23: Ivana Wong has the chance of winning all three categories that she’s nominated for. Best Original Song left.
21:21: And the winner of Best Supporting Actress is: IVANA WONG for GOLDEN CHICKENSSSS. This is her second award of the night.
21:20: CS: “Shouldn’t Dize Niu be in jail?!”
21:19: Time for Best Supporting Actress now. Doze Niu and Ethan Ruan on stage to present.
21:18: “Winning a Best Editing award for John Woo shouldn’t be called Best Editing. It should be best castration since his films are all cut in two now” - David Wu.
21:17: Is it a little embarrassing knowing that David Wu is not editing part two of THE CROSSING?
21:16: And the winner of Best Editing is: THE CROSSING PART 1. This is Wu’s second Best Editing win and 11th nomination.
21:14: Cheugn and Chan remain on stage for Best Editing.
21:13: CS: “Actually, everything with this film’s fine except for the writing and the directing!”
21:12: And the winner of Best Cinematography is: THE GOLDEN ERA, the third award of the night.
21:09: Alfred Cheung and Anthony Chan now on stage to present Best Cinematography.
21:06: Years ago, TVB cut to commercial in the middle of the in memoriam segment. Their handling of the awards led to them losing the rights one year until they promised to not do it again.
21:05: Aaaaaaaaaand TVB cuts off Anthony Wong, too.
21:04: Segway Fruit Chan is back!
21:02: Anthony Wong Yiu-ming on stage to perform ABERDEEN’s theme song. Is TVB going to cut him off, too? Oh, he’s not wearing a yellow ribbon. I think he’s safe.
21:00: And the winner of Best Costume & Make Up Design is: THE GOLDEN ERA, the second award of the night. First award win for Man Lim Chung in this category. Ann Hui crying in the audience.
20:58: Idy Wong and Arthur Wong remain on stage to present Best Costume & Make Up Design.
20:56: And the winner of Best Art Direction is: THE GOLDEN ERA. First win for the Ann Hui film tonight.
20:54: Idy Chan and cinematographer Arthur Wong on stage to present Best Art Direction. Of course, my guests are talking about Idy Chan and Chow Yun Fat.
20:53: Just heard that the main feed that produces the HKFA show was by TVB. So they cut off My Little Airport on TV.
20:50: The winner of Best Supporting Actor is: KENNETH TSANG for OVERHEARD 3.
First Supporting Actor win for Kenneth Tsang and second award for OVERHEARD 3.
Tsang is in tears during his speech. “This is for everyone working in Hong Kong cinema.”
20:49: Lam Suet now her co-presenter of this thing. He seems real caught off-guard.
OK, we’re getting on with this thing.
20:48: Carrie Ng inviting all five nominees to the stage. The nominees are all so confused.
20:47: Carrie Ng talking about her history with sex scenes. Now the two hosts leave her alone to present the award by herself.
20:45: Carrie Ng presenting Best Supporting Actor with Gordom Lam and Jordan Chan.
20:44: CS: “Man, there are a lot of dead bosses this year.”
20:41 - TVB forces copyright trademark on an image of a still even during the in memoriam segment.
20:40 - Children’s chorus singing Jacky Cheung’s “Blessings” as the in memoriam segment rolls on.
20:38 - Back from ad break. Miriam Yeung on stage now to introduce the in memoriam segment.
20:33: My Little Airport’s performance just got cut to a commercial break in the middle! My guests are sure it’s because the producers are afraid of My Little Airport saying something inflammatory.
20:31: Just biased. A film with my name on it has now won the HK Film Awards. I co-translated OVERHEARD 3’s subtitles.
My Little Airport now perform GOLDEN CHICKENSSS’ theme song.
20:30: Felix Chong: “This award is for Hong Kong and Hong Kongers.” I’m not exactly sure why.
20:28: The winner of Best Screenplay is: OVERHEARD 3. This is only the second time the OVERHEARD series has won a HK Film Award. OVERHEARD 1 won Best Editing.
20:26 - The producers just cut off the presenters’ banter and went straight to the nominees clip. Ouch
20:25 - Eddie Peng and Tang Wei on stage to present Best Screenplay. This will mostly be in Mandarin, much to CS’ relief.
20:23 - Lots of cheers in the house for David Lee’s win. DF is right: everyone likes him.
20:21 - Tony and Shu Qi remain on stage for Best New Director.
DF: “David Lee (Insantiy) is the most hard-working assistant director in Hong Kong”
The winner of Best New Director is: DAVID LEE for INSANITY
20:20 - Ivana has given the longest speech of the night - and she has two more categories to go. Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song.
20:19 - Technically, Ivana Wong is also a two-time loser of the HKFA already.
20:17 - The winner of Best New Actor is: IVANA WONG for GOLDEN CHICKENSSS
20:15 - Since Ivana Wong took 3 nominations, there are only two other nominees in the Best New Actor category: Candy Cheung for DOT 2 DOT and Jessica Choi for ABERDEEN.
Gordon Lam says CreateHK will give HK$100,000 for the Best New Director winner.
Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Shu Qi now on stage to present Best New Actor.
20:14 - The hosts now talking to Ivana Wong. “What happens if you don’t win anything tonight?!”
20:11 - And now the best dressed award. Tony Leung Chiu-wai for the men and Sandra Ng for the women.
20:09 - Back from the ad break, but two Now TV hosts still talking.
Best New Actor coming up next. Ivana Wong has 3 NOMINATIONS in this category.
20:04 - First ad break means we’re opening up a red wine.
20:02 - Ivana Wong now performing her nominated theme song from BREAK UP 100.
20:01 - DF: “Oh, Jordan Chan is in sober mode. That’s why he can’t perform tonight.”
20:00 - Yuen Bun is the only one of the four winners to go on stage to receive the award.
19:59 - And the winner of Best Action Choreography is: KUNG FU JUNGLE
19:57 - CS and DF immediately get into Amber Kuo dating rumors. I won’t repeat them here.
19:55 -Amber Kuo and Chin Kar Lok now on stage to present Best Action Choreography.
Yay for CS as another Mandarin speaker shows up.
19:54 - CS is very sad that the only Mandarin speaker of the night is not present to give the speech.
19:53 - Yam and Hui remain on stage to give out Best Sound Effects.
And the winner is: THE CROSSING PART 1
19:52 - Another winner said that his father was the first generation of special effects maker - he was a paper doll maker.
19:50 - One of the winners headed up now-defunct special effects company Menfond.
19:49: And the winner of the Visual Effects award is: RISE OF THE LEGEND
19:47 - CS: “Imagine all the Mainlanders in the audience. They’re not getting any of this banter!”
19:46 - First award of the night is Best Visual Effects. Director Ann Hui and Simon Yam presenting.
19:44 - Awkward host banter about how the Best Picture nominees are “disasters”. We’re not giving away awards for a while.
19:43 - CS: “High definition is such a cruel invention for the stars…”
19:42 - “Cinema Fantasia” is the theme of this year’s show. And I finally managed to convince DF that the show does not come with subtitles.
19:41 - A Fruit Chan-lookalike passing the stage TWICE with a camera on a segway.
This is Miriam Yeung’s first time hosting the show. Gordon Lam has hosted the show before.
19:40 - Host Gordon Lam introduces the show with a drone shot. Jordan Chan and Miriam Yeung also on stage now.
19:39: The show finally starting now with a montage of old HK special effects-packed films.
19:37: Like all big cultural event shows in Hong Kong, the HK Film Awards is starting late.
19:35 - We’re minutes away from the beginning of the show! DF and CS are WAH-ing at all the red carpet footage.
19:30 - We have an emergency. We’ve already finished most of our food with 4 hours to go!
19:22: CS, who doesn’t speak Cantonese, says “We’re here to judge people, not watch what they’re saying, so it’s OK to not have subtitles.”
19:18 - Now TV poll says audiences want Lau Ching Wan to win for OVERHEARD 3 or for INSANITY. But no one saw INSANITY.
19:17 - We’re still watching the red carpet coverage on Now TV. No more fashion talk!
Dana is already pissed. “Who’s this?! What is happening?!”
19:15 - Tonight, we’re joined by two guest commentators: Dana Fukuzawa (DF) and Coco Shen (CS). They’ll be providing all the snark.
17:53 - Technical test. Watching red carpet coverage now. Lots of fashion talk.