HONG KONG -- Cop thriller "Infernal Affairs" leads the competition for the April 6 Hong Kong Film Awards with 16 nominations, ahead of 14 racked up by Hong Kong/China epic co-production "Hero."
Both were nominated for film, alongside "Three" (11 noms), "Hollywood Hong Kong" (six noms) and Applause Pictures' "Golden Chicken" (3 noms).
The two films will also vie for director, for "Infernal Affairs" co-helmers Andrew Lau and Alan Mak and "Hero's" Zhang Yimou. Nominations also went to Peter Chan for "Three," Fruit Chan for "Hollywood Hong Kong" and Law Chi Leung for "Inner Senses."
"Infernal Affairs" co-stars Andy Lau and Tony Leung were nominated for actor with supporting actor nods going to the pic's Eric Tsang, Anthony Wong and Chapman To. Wong also scored supporting actors nods for his work in "Just One Look" and "Princess D".
The Media Asia production, which racked up $7.1 million at the box office, also garnered a host of nominations including screenplay, cinematography, editing and visual effects.
"Hero's" Maggie Cheung scored an actress nomination, as did Zhang Ziyi for supporting actress. The movie, which grossed $3.3 million locally, also racked up a raft of noms including action choreography for Tony Ching, art direction costume and make-up for Emi Wada, and cinematography for Chris Doyle, who is named in the same category for "Three" and in the visual effects category for "Infernal Affairs."
Other contenders for actor are Leon Lai for "Three," Tony Leung for "Double Vision" and Leslie Cheung for "Inner Senses."
Actress noms also went to Lee Sin Je for "The Eye," Faye Wong for "Chinese Odyssey 2002," Sandra Ng for "Golden Chicken" and Karena Lam for "Inner Senses."
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