Hong Kong favourite Anthony Wong Chau Sang is to be honoured with the Golden Mulberry Award for Outstanding Achievement at this year’s Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.
The controversial performer has been a ubiquitous presence in the Hong Kong film industry since the late 1980s, with more than 200 acting credits to his name. Wong is probably best known in the west for his deranged turns as Sweeney Todd-style serial killers in the Herman Yau-directed Category III classics The Untold Story (1993) and Ebola Syndrome (1996), but also gave memorable performances in the likes of Hard Boiled, Infernal Affairs and the Young and Dangerous series. Wong has also appeared in Hollywood productions including The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and The Painted Veil, and most recently in the UK television series Strangers (aka White Dragon) opposite John Simm.
To honour the occasion, FEFF will host the local premiere of Oliver Chan’s excellent new drama Still Human, which boasts one of Wong’s best performances in years, if not of his career, as a paralysed and curmudgeonly retiree whose family saddles him with a Filipino domestic helper with whom he struggles to communicate. Still Human has been nominated for 8 Hong Kong Film Awards, with the 57-year-old a strong contender to take home the Best Actor prize on 14 April. Wong previously won the award twice, for The Untold Story, and Dante Lam’s Beast Cops in 1999, as well as Best Supporting Actor gongs for Infernal Affairs and Initial D.
The festival will also include a rare screening of Angie Chen’s 1985 comedy My Name Ain’t Suzie, starring Pat Ha and Deannie Ip, as well as the very first big screen appearance from a then 24-year-old Wong.
The 21st Far East Film Festival runs from 26 April to 4 May in Udine, Italy and Screen Anarchy will have a team in play on the ground throughout. The full festival line-up will be revealed in early April. For more details, head to the official website.