Wong Kar Wai, 'The Grandmaster' win big at Hong Kong Film Awards

Published on April 13, 2014 in Los Angeles Times

By David Ng

"The Grandmaster," Wong Kar Wai's period martial-arts movie starring Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi, was the big winner at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday, taking home 12 prizes including the statuette for best picture.

Wong won the prize for director, his third such honor at the annual ceremony and his first since "Chungking Express" in 1994. Zhang won best actress, but Leung, who plays the martial-arts legend Ip Man, lost out to Nick Cheung, who won for the mixed martial-arts movie "Unbeatable."

"The Grandmaster" also won in the categories of supporting actor, screenplay, editing, cinematography, art direction, costume design, music and sound design.

Renowned fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping also received an award for his work on the movie's action sequences.

The movie follows the early career of Ip, who rose to prominence in southern China and later moved to Hong Kong, where he would teach Bruce Lee. Ip has been the subject of movies and television shows in China.

The Hong Kong Film Awards are among Asia's biggest movie award shows. At last year's ceremony, the police thriller "Cold War" took home the best-picture prize.

Earlier this year, "The Grandmaster" won seven awards, including best picture and director, at the Asian Film Awards held in Macau.

"The Grandmaster" was released in the U.S. last year in an edited form by Weinstein Co. The movie, which counts Megan Ellison among its executive producers, received two Academy Award nominations, for cinematography and costume design.

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