'Cold War,' 'The Bullet Vanishes' Lead Hong Kong Film Awards Noms

HONG KONG – Cold War and The Bullet Vanishes will go into the Hong Kong Film Awards on April 13 as front-runners, with the two films competing head-on in most of the acting and directing categories.

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 As announced on Tuesday, both films are shortlisted for the best film award, with Cold War’s first-time co-helmers Sunny Luk and Longman Leung also competing for the directing and screenwriting prizes with Bullet’s Lo Chi-leung. The former film’s Tony Leung Ka-fai will try to keep the latter’s Lau Ching-wan from repeating his best actor win from last year, which recognized his performance in Johnnie To’s Life Without Principle.

Meanwhile, Zhou Xun is a double-nominee in the best actress category for her performances in The Great Magician and The Silent War -- which could prove to be good news for the distributors of Cloud Atlas, in which the 38-year-old has a supporting role. The film is on release in Hong Kong and mainland China, where it has beaten Skyfall in box-office earnings every day since its release there on Jan. 31.

Cold War was the highest-grossing local production in Hong Kong in 2012 and the fifth-highest-grossing Chinese-language production in mainland China, taking $39.6 million during its November-December run. The Bullet Vanishes, meanwhile, just missed making the mainland’s year-end top 10, but still took $29.2 million.

Zhang Zhao, CEO of the film’s investors Le Vision Pictures, tweeted right after the nominations announcement: “Sorry, but we will have to make a sequel.”

The award ceremony takes place on April 13.

Nominations for major categories at the Hong Kong Film Awards:

Best Picture:

The Bullet Vanishes

Cold War

Motorway

The Viral Factor

Vulgaria

Best Director:

Soi Cheang Po-soi (Motorway)

Dante Lam Chiu-yin (The Viral Factor)

Lo Chi-leung (The Bullet Vanishes)

Sunny Luk and Longman Leung (Cold War)

Pang Ho-cheung (Love in the Buff)

Best Actor:

Nick Cheung Ka-fai (Nightfall)

Lau Ching-wan (The Bullet Vanishes)

Tony Leung Chiu-wai (The Silent War)

Tony Leung Ka-fai (Cold War)

Chapman To Man-chat (Vulgaria)

Best Actress:

Sammi Cheng Sau-man (Romancing in Thin Air)

Elanne Kong Yeuk-lam (Lifting Love)

Zhou Xun (The Great Magician)

Zhou Xun (The Silent War)

Miriam Yeung Chin-wah (Love in the Buffi)

Best Supporting Actor:

Ronald Cheng Chung-kei (Vulgaria)

Lam Ka-tung (Cold War)

Liu Kai-chi (The Bullet Vanishes)

Alex Man Chi-leung (The Bounty)

Chapman To Man-chat (Diva)

Best Supporting Actress:

Dada Chan (Vulgaria)

Mavis Fan Hsiao-hsuan (The Silent War)

Jiang Yiyan (The Bullet Vanishes)

Elaine Jin (The Viral Factor)

Susan Shaw Yin-yin (Vulgaria)