"The Grandmaster" and "Unbeatable" fight for Oscar nomination

21 Sep – While Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster" has always been the favourite entry to be nominated for the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Film category; it seems that the martial arts movie is now facing a strong competitor in the form of Dante Lam's "Unbeatable".

As reported on Apple Daily website, the Federation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong Limited, whose annual job is to submit a film to represent Hong Kong to compete for the Best Foreign Film nomination in the Academy Awards, has set his sights on the Wong Kar-wai masterpiece for quite a while.

However, this year's jury panel, which includes Mabel Cheung, John Chong, Teresa Mo, amongst others, are having problems choosing, since Dante Lam's "Unbeatable", which is still screening, has been showed promise.

A source claimed, "Originally, the jury thought that the HKD 120 million (app. USD 15.47 million) budget and a decade-long production of "The Grandmaster" would have a better shot as Hong Kong's representative for Best Foreign Film, especially since it has frequented a lot of international film festivals and that Wong has been recognised by most foreign viewers."

"They also believe that the film will have a better chance at winning since it was screened in the US and accumulated USD 2.45 million in a short time," the sources continued.

However, with the recent success of "Unbeatable" in raking in more than HKD 42 million (USD 5.4 million), as well as Nick and Crystal Lee's wins as Best Actor and Best Actress at the Shanghai International Film Festival, some of the voters are having second thoughts and requested to watch the American cut of "The Grandmaster" before making any decisions.

The voting session has been delayed until 23 September.