In a shocking move, the China Film Directors' Guild announced yesterday that it was not going to hand out awards for Best Film or Best Director because the quality of Chinese films over the past year has been so poor. The announcement was made a the 5th annual ceremony in Beijing, a star studded event where Xu Zheng was named Best Actor for No Man's Land and Tang Wei took Best Actress for Finding Mr Right.
Guild chair Feng Xiolgang told stunned nominees that the organisation is not there to entertain itself and should not simply congratulate itself but, instead, aim to set a higher standard. His remarks, however, are being seen by many as veiled criticism of the government for ongoing censorship which, among other things, led to the exclusion of Cannes hit A Touch Of Sin from this year's competition.
Despite the omission of the headline awards, there was still a Special Jury Prize, which went to Chinese revolution story Blue Bone, while Li Ruijun was named Young Director of the Year for Fly with the Crane, the story of a family of coffin makers.
