The 40th Hong Kong Film Awards announced the shortlist of 19 awards yesterday (16 February), of which five actors nominated for Best New Actor all won the Lead Role or Supporting Actor Awards; as for the two nominated new directors Wen Nianzhong and Lee Junshuo, the former was nominated for best director for his first work "Good Film", while the latter was again shortlisted for the Best Screenplay Award for his second work "Turbid Water Rafting". At this time, some fans may ask why director Li Junshuo can still be nominated for the New Director Award for "Turbid Water Drifting"; Ke Weilin, who also filmed "Point Five Steps" and "No. 1 Zhongying Street", can also compete for best new actor?
According to the eligibility and selection rules of the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards, there are 5 points for the eligibility of the "New Director" Award, including 1) The candidate must be a Hong Kong resident holding a Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card, but there is no age restriction. 2) The candidate must be the sole director of the film. 3) The selected films must be films for the first round of screening in Hong Kong between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021, and fully meet the following "Screening Conditions". 4) Films directed by the candidate, with a maximum of two films. 5) Persons who have won similar awards are not eligible to participate in the election, except for those who have been nominated for similar awards.
Since "Drifting in Turbid Water" is the second work directed by Li Junshuo and directed by him alone, and this work was also released on June 3, 2021, it is in line with points 2 to 4. Although Lee Washushuo was nominated for Best New Director at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards with "Trish", it was Won by Chen Xiaojuan of "The Fallen Man", so Lee Junshuo qualified for Point 5, and this time it is also his last competition for a new director. In addition, Liu Haoliang, who competed for the New Director Award with the 2015 movie "Stormtrooper", competed for the second time with "Riot Elimination" this time, and it is also his last time to compete for the New Director Award.
As for "Best New Actor", according to the eligibility and selection rules, the Best New Actor candidate must have not participated in any film as a "protagonist" or "supporting role" before the election year, and his or her participation in more than one film must be a Hong Kong film of the current year; the best new actor candidate can compete for the "Best Actor or Actress" or "Best Supporting Actor" award with one film at the same time. Therefore, the five new actors shortlisted this year, "Mei Yanfang" Wang Dani, "Kill a Dusk" Zhong Xueying, "Mother's Magic Boy" Liang Zhongheng, "Mother's Magic Boy" Feng Haoyang and "Turbid Water Drifting" Ke Weilin were all shortlisted for the Protagonist Award or Supporting Role Award.
As for Ke Weilin, although he has participated in "Five Steps" and "No. 1 Zhongying Street", he believes that he did not participate in these two films as a "protagonist" or "supporting role". Looking through the online information again shows that in the past five editions, only the 35th Best New Actor and the 36th New Director Winner have launched works, the former is "Blood And Plum" Bai Only, before that, he had guest starred in the 2006 release of "The Legend of the Hero of the Bird": as for the latter, it was won by Huang Jin in "A Thought of Ignorance", before which he had directed "Good Take" with other directors.