WITH the budget for the opening ceremony dramatically shrunk from the original 9 million yuan (US$1.46 million) to 300,000 yuan, this year’s Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival opened without the usual star-studded, red carpet ceremony and glamorous receptions and banquets in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on Wednesday. Under instructions from the Central Government to scale down the event, organizers have canceled a number of activities, including opening ceremony banquets and celebrity promotions. A-list stars who are attending the four-day event include Yu Nan of “Tuya’s Marriage,” Hong Kong actress Charlene Choi and actor Chapman To, according to Kang Jianmin, spokesperson of the event’s organizing committee. “More celebrities will show up in the coming days, although some are not finalized yet,” Kang said Wednesday. Confronting doubts about whether the festival, known as China’s largest film award event, would continue to fail to win the favor of local movie celebrities, Kang blamed the event’s scheduling. “The festival initially was planned for October, but then moved to September this year. It’s difficult for stars to rearrange their schedules,” Kang said. For this year’s Golden Rooster Film Awards, Feng Xiaogang’s historical drama about a wartime famine, “Back to 1942,” has the most nominations, participating in eight categories including best dramatic film, best director and best actor. Wang Jing’s “Feng Shui” is in second, with seven nominations. In addition to “1942,” Hong Kong director Ann Hui’s “A Simple Life” (2011), Peter Chan’s “American Dreams in China,” Chen Li’s “The Story of Zhou Enlai,” Huang Hong’s “Fallen City” (2010) and Wu Tianming’s “Song of the Phoenix” are nominated for best dramatic film. Asked about the absence of “Lost in Thailand,” organizers told Chinese media that Xu Zheng’s comedy, which made 1.25 billion yuan, was not submitted for the awards. And while Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai is nominated for best director, “The Grandmaster” is not shortlisted in a best film category. The 18 categories include seven different best film categories: best dramatic film, best medium budget film, best documentary, best animated film, best scientific instructional film, best opera film and best children’s film. The screenplay award is separated into two categories this year, best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay. The latter is particularly competitive, with “1942,” “Feng Shui” and Vicki Zhao’s “So Young.” Zhao is also nominated in the best debut director category. Saturday’s awards ceremony will be the concluding event of the 22nd China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival in Wuhan.(SD-Agencies) Golden Rooster Awards 2013 nominations (Major categories only)Best dramatic film “American Dreams in China” “Back to 1942” “Fallen City” “A Simple Life” “Song of the Phoenix” “The Story of Zhou Enlai” Best medium budget film “82 Warriors“ “Feng Shui” “Latitude 52” (2011) “Today and Tomorrow” Best director Peter Chan “American Dreams in China” Feng Xiaogang “Back to 1942” Wang Jing “Feng Shui” Wong Kar-wai “The Grandmaster” Best debut director Deguna & Leon DU “Latitude 52” Du Jiayi “Kora” (2011) Liu Haodong “Pebble” Qu Jiangtao “The Grandson from America” Vicki Zhao “So Young” Best actor Huang Jue “Fallen City” Huang Xiaoming “American Dreams in China” Sun Weimin “The Story of Zhou Enlai” Tao Zeru “Song of the Phoenix” Zhang Guoli “Back to 1942” Best actress Liang Jing “Son of the Stars” Song Jia “Falling Flowers” Yan Bingyan “Feng Shui” Yang Zishan “So Young” Zhang Jingchu “My Running Shadow” Zhang Ziyi “The Grandmaster” Best original screenplay Susan Chan “A Simple Life” Robert Chou, Zhang Ji and Aubrey Lam “American Dreams in China” Huang Hong and Wang Jinming “Fallen City” Qu Jiangtao “The Grandson from America” Shu Shu and Hu Yonghong “My Running Shadow” Tian Yunzhang and Jiang Yue “The Story of Zhou Enlai” Best adapted screenplay Li Qiang “So Young” Liu Zhenyun “Back to 1942” Wu Nan “Feng Shui” | 