‘Stonewalling’ Wins Best Film And Best Actress At Hong Kong International Film Festival

Liz Shackleton

Updated 10 April 2023 at 6:22 pm·2-min read

Stonewalling, co-directed by Huang Ji and Otsuka Ryuji, was the big winner at Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), taking home three prizes including best film in the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language) of the Firebird Awards.

While HKIFF did manage to hold some postponed, but in-theatre, editions during the pandemic, this year was the first time the festival had been able to welcome overseas guests after Hong Kong dropped it strict Covid quarantine requirements towards the end of last year. The festival wraps today (April 10) and held its awards ceremony with a screening of closing film, Cheuk Wan-chi’s Vital Sign, last night.

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Part of a trilogy that focuses on the struggles of young women in contemporary China, Stonewalling also won best actress, which was shared by its two female leads, Huang Xiaoxiong and Yao Honggui, playing mother and daughter, and also picked up the Fipresci prize.

The HKIFF Firebird Award jury commended the film for ‘reminding us of the confusion, difficulty and suffering women face nowadays, and the inescapable responsibilities they have to shoulder’. The film premiered at last year’s Venice film festival and was later acquired by KimStim for North American distribution.

Also in the Young Cinema Chinese-language competition, Macau’s Hong Heng-fai won best director with Kissing The Ground You Walked On, and the best actor award went to veteran actor Li Xuejian for To Love Again. A Special Mention went to Bad Education, the debut feature of actor-turned-director Kai Ko.

Mexican director Lila Avilés’s Totem won best film in the Young Cinema Competition (World), while best director went to Argentina’s Martín Benchimol for The Castle. Best actor went to Mirko Giannini for France’s Astrakan, and best actress to the female ensemble cast of Spain’s 20,000 Species Of Bees.

In the Documentary Competition, the best film Firebird Award went to Apolonia, Apolonia, in which Danish director Lea Glob charts her relationship with French painter Apolonia Sokol. Polish filmmakers Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski took the Jury Prize with The Hamlet Syndrome, about a group of young actors trying to stage a performance of Hamlet in Ukraine.

Swiss filmmaker Morgane Frund received the Firebird Award in the Short Film Competition with her graduation project, Bear, while the Jury Prize went to Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, a black comedy from Singaporean director Alvin Lee.

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