CHINESE mainland film “The Summer Is Gone” emerged as the top winner at the Golden Horse Awards on Saturday.

    The film, director Zhang Dalei’s debut feature, was named as best picture in the annual awards for best Chinese-language films. It also picked up a best new performer award for Kong Weiyi and the FIPRESCI prize awarded by a separate jury of critics.

    It’s about a boy’s summer vacation in Inner Mongolia in the early 1990s set to the backdrop of shrinking jobs at State-owned companies during a time of economic reform.

    In the best actress category the award was shared between the two nominees — Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun — from “Soul Mate.” Zhou and Ma played two best friends whose relationship is tested when they fall in love with the same man.

    “Together we make a fantastic duo,” said Ma. “I would not be me without her, and she would not be her without me.”

    Fan Wei won best actor for his performance in “Mr. No Problem” as the manager of a struggling farm in Chongqing in the 1940s. Fan said he was grateful the jury had “perceived the subtleness I brought to the character.” The film also won best adapted screenplay.

    Other winners with two awards each were “Detective Chinatown” (best action choreography, best makeup/costume), “Mad World” (best new director: Wong Chun, and best supporting actress), “Trivisa” (best original screenplay, best editing), “Crosscurrent” (best cinematography, best sound design) and “I Am Not Madam Bovary” (best director: Feng Xiaogang, and the audience choice award.)

    Taiwanese film “Godspeed” had nominations for eight awards and was strongly favored to win in several categories. On the night, it picked up only one, for art direction. Other disappointments included the failure of “The Road to Mandalay” to turn any of its six nominations into awards wins, and the failure of Taiwan’s foreign-language Oscar contender “Hang in There Kids” to collect any awards.

    The Golden Horse Film Festival ran Nov. 4-24. The event included a red carpet appearance by Juliette Binoche and performances by Coco Lee and Singapore’s Stephanie Sun.

    The awards jury was headed by the veteran, socially-conscious Hong Kong director Ann Hui.

    (SD-Agencies)