'Kung Fu Hustle' Earns Hong Kong Honor

HONG KONG (AP) _ Stephen Chow's ``Kung Fu Hustle'' was named best film at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony Sunday, but art-house director Wong Kar-wai's romance ``2046''

Monday, March 28th 2005, 9:37 am

By: News On 6

HONG KONG (AP) _ Stephen Chow's ``Kung Fu Hustle'' was named best film at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony Sunday, but art-house director Wong Kar-wai's romance ``2046'' swept the top acting honors.

Derek Yee's suspense thriller ``One Nite in Mongkok,'' the tale of a mainland Chinese assassin and prostitute who cross paths in Hong Kong, won the best directing and best script prizes.

But ``Kung Fu Hustle'' and ``2046'' were the big winners of the night, clinching 12 awards between them.

Former Cannes winner Tony Leung and ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' star Zhang Ziyi won the lead acting awards for their roles in ``2046'' _ a follow-up to Wong's ``In the Mood For Love,'' the story of the affair between a married woman and man played by Leung.

Leung reprises his role in ``2046'' _ the number of the room where Leung's character and his former lover met. Zhang plays Leung's new lover.

Critics have praised the duo for their nuanced performances. Leung and Zhang also won top acting honors at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards announced earlier.

In an evening that featured the cream of the crop of Chinese cinema, ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' director Ang Lee presented a professional spirit award to Jackie Chan.

Chan said he appreciated the prize because it honored his professionalism and conduct, not just his artistic achievements.

``Outside of movies, this involves charity work ... an actor's professional conduct, being punctual, respecting elders. These are very important things,'' he told reporters. ``This is harder to win than a Hong Kong Film Award.''

``Kung Fu Hustle'' director Chow paid tribute to Bruce Lee, who was named ``Chinese Film's Bright Star of the Century.''

``He changed the way we looked at kung fu, changed the way we look at movies,'' Chow said.

Lee's former producer Raymond Chow handed over the award to Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee Keasler.

Yuen Wah won the best supporting acting award for his performance as a secret kung fu master posing as a landlord in the Hollywood-financed ``Kung Fu Hustle.''

Chinese actress Bai Ling, who has starred in Hollywood movies like ``Anna and the King,'' was named best supporting actress for the horror film ``Dumplings.''

The ceremony marked 100 years of Chinese film making. Organizers showed clips from different eras of Chinese film in between awards.