HONG KONG crime thriller “Limbo” is the frontrunner of the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) with the film bagging a total of 14 nominations including best film.

A visually striking, black-and-white crime thriller that tells a nihilistic tale of despair and redemption set in a city rotten to the ground, “Limbo” stars Gordon Lam and Mason Lee as a pair of police detectives on the hunt of a serial murderer.

“Limbo” has been one of the most critically acclaimed Hong Kong films in the past year, having garnered four nominations (and two wins for best sound and production design) at last year’s Asian Film Awards. It also won best picture and best actress (Liu Yase) at the 2021 Hong Kong Film Critics Society awards announced in January.

The action film also scored nominations for best director for Soi Cheang and best actor for Lam for the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards. Lam, who won the Hong Kong Film Awards best actor in 2017, is also nominated in the same category for another film, “Hand Rolled Cigarette” this year, organizers revealed at a press conference Wednesday.

Lam will be competing against Francis Ng, nominated for “Drifting” — a film about homeless people living in Sham Shui Po, Leung Chung-hang for “Zero to Hero” — which is based on the true story of medal-winning Paralympian So Wa-wai, and Patrick Tse for “Time” — a black comedy about the loneliness of Hong Kong’s elderly.

“Anita,” a biopic about the late Cantopop singer Anita Mui, is the next most nominated film, scoring 12 nominations. They include best film, best director for Longman Leung, and best actress and best new performer for Louise Wong. She will be up against Chrissie Chau for “Madalena,” Liu Yase for “Limbo,” Sandra Ng for “Zero to Hero,” and Gong Li for “Leap” in the best actress category.

The other three movies up for best film, “Drifting,” “Zero to Hero” and “Raging Fire,” bagged 11, nine and eight nominations respectively. “Zero to Hero” was earlier chosen as Hong Kong’s submission to the Oscars for best international feature film.

A rare occurrence sees the veteran production designer and art director Man Lim-chung being nominated for best director for his documentary “Keep Rolling.” The awards’ main categories have been traditionally reserved for fiction features, but anyone who has seen “Keep Rolling,” his enthralling portrait of film legend Ann Hui, would welcome the exception.

The awards ceremony will be held April 17 at the Hong Kong Cultural Center in Tsim Sha Tsui. The nomination list for this current edition of the Hong Kong Film Awards includes films released theatrically both in 2020 and 2021, after the 2021 edition was canceled due to repeated closure of cinemas amid the pandemic.

(SD-Agencies)