After being overlooked in the selection of Hong Kong's candidate for the best foreign film Oscar, Jiang Wen's "The Sun Also Rises" will now seek to represent the Chinese mainland in next year's awards.

Johnnie To's gangster thriller "Exiled" beat off competition from eight other movies, including "The Sun Also Rises", with more than half of the 13 votes cast, The Beijing News quoted Crucindo Hung, President of the Federation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong (FMFP), as saying.

Hung said the selection was made in a "fair and just way" but See-yuen Ng, President of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, disagreed vehemently.

"The whole selection process was flawed because it lacked transparency. Hong Kong filmmakers only pay lukewarm attention to the Oscars," he told the Beijing-based newspaper..

In a movie-plot twist, Jiang Wen's assistant, surnamed Li, told Xinhua that Jiang had never applied for the Hong Kong candidacy in the first place and had always intended to represent the mainland, sparking speculation that an agreement had been reached between the Chinese mainland and the film's Hong Kong-based backer.

With the highly anticipated battle epic, "The Warlords", officially withdrawn from the running after opposition from its U.S. backers, the Chinese mainland's Oscar candidate still remains unknown.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television , which decides the selection, has said it will select one candidate before October 1 and Li is confident "The Sun Also Rises" will be given the nod.

"The quality of 'Sun' can be judged by box office figures. We are confident of beating our biggest rival 'The Knot'," he said.

"But, the competition is not all about the box office or quality. The selection mechanism will also have a say in the result," Li added.

"The Sun Also Rises" is a tale of how the lives of two families intertwine during the Cultural Revolution. "The Knot", directed by Yin Li, is a sweeping romantic epic spanning the years since the 1940's and set across China including Taiwan and Tibet.

Ang Lee's Golden Lion-winning thriller "Lust, Caution", will represent Taiwan at the Oscars.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2007)