“In Broad Daylight,” an expose of real events in a care home for the elderly, dominated the nominations for the Hong Kong Film Awards.
The Lawrence Kan-directed comedy-drama received 16 nominations, at the Tuesday nominations event, including best picture and best new director as well as others for cinematography, editing sound design and original song.
The story sees an investigative reporter go under cover to expose cruelty and other wrong-doings at the Rainbow Bridge Care Home. It premiered last year at the Shanghai film festival and was a highlight of the New York Asian Film Festival, but came away empty-handed from the Golden Horse Film Awards, where it had been nominated in five categories. It enjoyed its commercial release in Hong Kong in November.
Other contenders in the HKFA best film category are: Nick Cheung’s “Time Still Turns the Pages,” Soi Cheang’s “Mad Fate,” Felix Chong’s “The Goldfinger” and box office record breaker “A Guilty Conscience,” directed by Jack Ng. the same five pictures all accrued nominations for best director. Both “Daylight” and “Pages” are produced by Derek Yee, chairman of the HKFA.
The same five titles hogged other nominations too. “Pages” and “Goldfinger” each amassed 12. “Mad Fate,” which debuted in Berlin last year, and “Guilty Conscience” each took ten.
There were also nominations for best Asian Chinese film, which went to “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon,” “No More Bets,” “Abang Adik,” “Full River Red” and Taiwanese hit “Marry My Dead Body.”
“With the return to normalcy in Hong Kong society last year and the full reopening of cinemas across the city, more films were able to be screened. In 2023, a total of 50 films are eligible for the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards, marking a significant increase of 50%, compared to 33 films in 2022. The 50 nominated films cover a diverse range of genres and themes, many of which are produced by emerging directors, and starring young actors and new idols. These films have successfully attracted a wider audience to return to the cinemas and garnered enthusiastic support. The ten highest-grossing local films have all yielded encouraging results with both good audience feedback and handsome box records of over ten million Hong Kong dollars earnings,” said Yee.
The awards ceremony will be held on April 14 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Kowloon with the red carpet prelude again returning to the center’s Harbourfront Staircase.