"Back to 1942" won Best Feature Film
28 Apr – Despite the mediocre success of "Back to 1942" at the mainland box office, it was Feng Xiaogang who had the last laugh after winning the Best Feature Film at the recent 2013 Beijing International Film Festival.
According to CRI website, Feng Xiaogang's natural-disaster epic, "Back to 1942" – which revolves around the famine that devastated the province of Hunan during the World War II, was able to beat other nominations to win the inaugural edition of the festival's Tiantan Awards.
Aside from the highest prize, the movie also took home the Best Visual Effect award.
However, Feng Xiaogang was not as successful at winning Best Director, having lost the accolade to Australian director, Cate Shortland with the film "Lore".
Meanwhile, Chinese actress Yan Bingyan was awarded Best Actress for her performance in the film "Feng Shui".
In respect to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake in south western China, the festival's organisers used a blue carpet instead of a red one. Several stars also appeared in black, with a green ribbon attached to their attire as a sign of support.
Even the show itself began with a note of remembrance to the victims of the tremors at Ya'an municipality, with director Chen Kaige's introductory speech laced with condolences to the loss of lives and destructions in the catastrophe.
