HK’s ‘Better Days’ gets nod as Oscar nominees named

Hong Kong’s film industry has been given a boost, with the SAR’s choice for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, bullying drama “Better Days”, among the five nominees for the award.

The film, directed by Derek Tsang, is the first nominee from the SAR since 1993’s Farewell My Concubine to make the final list, and only the third Hong Kong film ever nominated for the prize. Filmed and set in Chongqing, the film was a major hit on the mainland.

It will compete with films from Romania, Bosnia, Tunisia and a co-production from Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden for the award, to be announced on April 25.

Also nominated was “Do Not Split”, a documentary about the 2019 anti-extradition protests in the SAR, which is up for Best Documentary Short.

Netflix’s 1930s Hollywood drama “Mank” led the Oscar nomination with 10 nods, including best picture.

Other best picture nods went to dementia drama “The Father, “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Korean-language drama “Minari, “Nomadland”, #MeToo revenge tale “Promising Young Woman” “Sound of Metal,” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”

Director Chloe Zhao, who was born in China, nabbed one of the five best director nods for “Nomadland,” the Searchlight Pictures release about modern van dwellers in the United States. British director Emerald Fennell was also nominated for “Promising Young Woman.”

Only one woman, Kathryn Bigelow, has ever won a best director Oscar.

Lead actors picking up nominations included a first Oscar nod for the late Chadwick Boseman, previous winners Frances McDormand and Viola Davis and Britons Carey Mulligan, Vanessa Kirby, Riz Ahmed and Gary Oldman. (RTHK/AFP)