As Hong Kong celebrates 100 years of filmmaking, Wilson Yip's biopic Ip Man (above, top image), starring Donnie Yen as Bruce Lee's kung fu master, was chosen best picture of the year at the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards.
However, the small-scale docudrama The Way We Are (above, bottom image), set in the working-class town of Tin Shui Wai near the border with China, took home most of the top awards, including best director (Ann Hui), actress (Paw Hee-ching), supporting actress (Chan Lai Wun) and screenplay (Lou Shiu Wa).
The best actor winner was Nick Cheung, who plays a kidnapper in the action thriller The Beast Stalker, while Liu Kai Chi received the best supporting actor award for his work in the same film.
The best new performer award went to 11-year-old Xu Jiao for her performance in Stephen Chow's sci-fi film CJ 7.
John Woo's expensive historical epic Red Cliff, set in the final days of the Han Dynasty in the early 3rd century, won a total of five awards, including best visual effects and art direction.
The best Asian film was Feng Xiaogang's socially conscious war drama Assembly, from China, in which a veteran soldier tries to gain social and political recognition for the efforts of his Chinese Civil War comrades.
Veteran actress Josephine Siao — three-time Golden Horse winner, two-time Hong Kong Film Award winner, and best actress winner at the Berlin Film Festival in 1995 — received the lifetime achievement award from director Wong Kar Wai.
2009 David di Donatello Nominations
Gen Art Film Festival Awards 2009