Kung Fu Hustle took the prize for Best Film in Hong Kong's Golden Bauhinia Awards on Sunday night, conferred by the Hong Kong Critics Association.

The film was co-presented by Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia Ltd, Beijing Film Studio of China Film Group Corporation and Huayi Brothers & Taihe Film Investment Co. Ltd. 

Derek Yee Tung Sing won Best Director for his film One Night in Mongkok, Tony Leung Chiu Wai won Best Actor for his role in the film 2046 and Rene Liu won Best Actress for her role in A World without Thieves.

Christopher Doyle won Best Cinematography for 2046, Yuan Wah won Best Supporting Actor for his role Kung Fu Hustle and Bai Ling was awarded Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dumplings.

The association offered a special award to Lau Kar Leung for his outstanding achievement in making kung fu films in Cantonese over the past decades.

Another kung fu film, Seven Swords, directed by Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, won't be taking part in the Cannes Film Festival in May because it's still far from completion, though they have sacrificed a tremendous amount of time in post-production.

Meanwhile, the Chinese mainland is cutting its number of national award programs for entertainment, journalism, and publications from 90 to 24 in line with new regulations.

The number of awards for entertainment, including movies, music and performance, will fall from 44 to 18, those for journalism will drop from 14 to two, while those for publications will be cut from 31 to three, said government sources on Sunday.

The new regulations stressed that award organizers are forbidden to charge any candidate or finance from any contributor, and that it aims to safeguard fairness, justice and the authority of national awards.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2005)