Oscars Abroad (Hong Kong)

While I sometimes feel guilty about the ethnocentricity of calling any film prizes "the [insert nationality] Oscars" it's convenient shorthand. I think awards junkies (and you know who you are) would be a lot more interest in "the ____ Oscars" like the Cesars (France), the Goyas (Spain), the Guldbagge (Sweden) among many others if the films were readily available for viewing and information/photos were easier to find*. I dream that someday corporate globalization will have one good cinematic result: easier access to any type of cinema instead of the interminable waits, spotty drawn out release patterns and the bewildering practice of doing all the work of getting a film on DVD and yet only making it available in one market, cutting off potential revenue.

Your octuplet guide to popular titles at 2009's Hong Kong Film
Awards. Only one of these films (CJ7) was released in the US.

Which is all a long way of saying that I wish I could watch all the Hong Kong Film Award winners (announced last week but still not on IMDB?) back to back for at least one Oscar'ish article. I'd love to do the same for other countries, too.

One of the amusing things about checking out the winners of 'the ____ Oscars' is that they tend to follow the same patterns. The often formulaic biopic genre excites voting bodies everywhere... not just in Hollywood. Ip Man, a biopic about Bruce Lee's master took Best Picture. Wouldn't there be at least a small market for that film in the US? Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was among the top 50 releases of 1993 without anything other than the Lee mythos to sell it. This is only tangentially Lee related but still... KUNG FU! Action is the most internationally marketable genre.

Though Ip Man won the top prize, Donnie Yen (left) lost best actor and the film only collected one other prize: Best Action Choreography. The Way We Are, a small drama about women in a working class neighborhood was the most celebrated winning director, screenplay and both female acting prizes. Beast Stalker, a kidnapping drama, won both of the male acting statues. The star heavy blockbuster Red Cliff (its lack of US distribution still puzzles me) took home five technical prizes. The supernatural action film Painted Skin won only two prizes (cinematography and song) suggesting only mild support. Why was it their Oscar submission last year, one wonders?

Oscars 2009? Beast Stalker and Ip Man were both released after the AMPAS eligibility period in 2008 so either could theoretically be chosen as Hong Kong's Foreign Language entry later this year. Stay tuned...

*If you know of any non-US blogs that are covering their home country's cinema / celebrities / awards well, please share them in the comments or e-mail me a recommendation.