Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s (侯孝賢) martial arts film The Assassin (聶隱娘) swept the Asian Film Awards in Macau on Thursday, bagging more than half of the 15 prizes awarded, including best film, best actress and best director.
The Assassin garnered eight awards, with the others for best supporting actress, best sound, best original music, best production design and best cinematography.
Set in ninth-century China, The Assassin tells the story of a general’s daughter — Nie Yinniang (聶隱娘) — who was trained by a nun since the age of 10 to become an assassin to kill the governor of her home province.
Photo: AP
Taiwanese actress Shu Qi (舒淇), who played the assassin, said she was delighted to receive her trophy from French movie star Sophie Marceau.
She also said she was lucky this year.
“I could not have made it through the two years of production for The Assassin without [the help of] bandages and medicine,” said Shu, referring to the grueling physical demands required for the action sequences.
Shu beat another Taiwanese actress, Karena Lam (林嘉欣), who won the best actress award in Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards last year for her role as a woman who loses her fiance in Zinnia Flower (百日告別), Zhao Tao (趙濤) for Chinese romantic film Mountains May Depart (山河故人), Haruka Ayase for Japanese film Our Little Sister and Kim Hye-soo for South Korean film Coin Locker Girl.
Best actor went to Lee Byung-hun for South Korean film Inside Men.
Hong Kong action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping (袁和平), who worked on films such as The Matrix, Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍), was given this year’s lifetime achievement award, along with veteran Japanese actress Kirin Kiki.
The awards were organized by the Hong Kong International Film Festival.
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