Singapore director Alvin Lee wins at China’s Golden Rooster Awards
Local director Alvin Lee has won an award at China’s Golden Rooster Awards.
His work, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, was one of 10 winners for best short film last Friday evening.
“This is my best birthday gift this year,” Lee, who turned 31 on Sunday, told Chinese-language evening daily Shin Min Daily News.
Although there were 10 winners, Lee was the only film-maker from overseas. The jury is headed by Chinese actor Huang Bo.
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes is a dark comedy about a series of events played out between an undertaker and three siblings at their father’s wake, after a mix-up leads to the wrong body getting sent for cremation. The film stars Wang Weiliang, Benjamin Heng, Priscelia Chan and Oon Shu An.
Lee was unable to fly to Xiamen, China, to attend the ceremony due to the pandemic.
“It’s a pity that I couldn’t be there personally, but I’m so glad that our film resonated with Chinese audiences,” he wrote on social media on Saturday.
“It really made my day that one of my favorite actors and head of jury, Huang Bo, mentioned he loves the film.”
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea in October and will be screened at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) on Dec 2.
Lee graduated from the Beijing Film Academy and his thesis film A Time For Us (2018) premiered at the 29th SGIFF in 2018.
Chinese war epic The Battle At Lake Changjin won Best Picture at the Golden Rooster Awards on Saturday, with Best Director going to the film’s three co-directors Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam.
The Best Actor award went to Zhu Yilong of Lighting Up The Stars, while the Best Actress award went to Xi Meijuan of Song Of Spring.
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