2003 HKFA Awards Ceremony (第22屆香港電影金像獎颁獎典禮)

I just finished re-watching the 2003 HK Film Awards Ceremony and I’ve got to say that it brings back a lot of memories.

To be honest, I didn’t purposefully re-watch this show – I just happened to come across it again when I was searching for something in Tudou, so I decided to go ahead and re-watch.

The 2003 ceremony was very different from the previous ones in many ways. First of all, that was the year that SARS hit Hong Kong and the entire population was suffering from the epidemic. It had gotten so bad that there were advisories put out by the government suggesting that non-HK citizens should not travel to HK and if they did, it would be at their own risk. The spirit and mood of the people were at an all-time low. Just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, the HK entertainment industry is rocked by devastating news: music and film icon Leslie Cheung jumps from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel – and within minutes, he was gone.

In less than 5 days from this tragic event, the 22nd annual HK Film Awards ceremony was scheduled to take place – given everything that happened, many wondered if they should move forward with the event as planned. In the end, they decided to proceed with the show as usual. The night of the ceremony, HKFA association chairman (and host of the event that night) Eric Tsang gave the opening speech (a very moving one) and in it, he reveals the reason why they decided to go on with the show. He said that after what happened, he didn’t want to do the show anymore – but then he saw something on TV that made him change his mind. There was a news report about how, at the peak of the SARS epidemic, a group of several dozen doctors were asked who amongst them would volunteer to ‘get in the trenches’ and go into the deepest hit areas to help out (and risk the possibility of losing their lives) – without any hesitation, every single of them raised their hands and volunteered to go. Eric was moved when he saw this and also felt motivated – he indicated that the entertainment industry should not let the events of the past several months beat them down…instead, they should show the same ‘fighting spirit’ as the doctors and do the jobs that they were meant to do – entertain the audiences, bring up people’s spirits, and help everyone – ordinary citizen and celebrity alike – temporarily forget their sorrow and pain for one night.

This particular awards ceremony was also unique and special because of 2 reasons:

Majority of the artists who were nominated in the various categories were not in attendance at the ceremony and even many of those who won did not attend. Now before we start blaming the artists, we have to understand the environment in HK during that time – as I said earlier, SARS was at its peak and so many people were sick that the entire region became a big hospital ward, it seemed. And as mentioned earlier, the government had issued advisories regarding travel to HK….also, the hosts Eric Tsang and John Shum did mention that most of the non-HK artists were advised not to come to HK, so it’s actually not too surprising that they did not attend. In fact, the only non-HK artist in attendance at the ceremony was Zhang Zhen, who presented one of the awards.

Second, despite the lack of non-HK artists and the ‘tense’ atmosphere, this was still one of the most memorable ceremonies in HKFA history because it showed how united the HK entertainment industry truly is. A few of HK’s biggest celebrities who had not attended the HK Film Awards in years were in attendance at this particular awards ceremony.…this may not seem like a big deal, but what makes this truly unique is that most of the ‘big name’ celebrities attended primarily to support HK and the industry – many of them were neither nominees nor presenters. And a few of them were actually out of the country, but purposefully flew back to HK just to support.

For example, film icon Chow Yun Fat and his wife Jasmine attended the ceremony to show their support, as did singer/actor Alan Tam (both had not attended the HKFA in years) – both Fat Gor and Alan were the special guests who gave a 4 minute monologue at the end of the ceremony -- a great speech that was filled with humor and jokes at each other’s expense, but was a great source of encouragement for everyone in HK. Stephen Chow also made a rare appearance prior to the presentation of the Best New Director award (which he was not the presenter for) to say a few words of encouragement to the people of HK. For me though, the biggest highlight of all was the extremely rare performance by of all 4 Cantopop Kings (Jacky, Andy, Leon, Aaron), who had not performed together since the late 90s – they did an acappella rendition of Leslie’s classic hit Dong Nin Ching (當年情) as a tribute to him. I definitely have to applaud Jacky for attending just to do the tribute, given his close relationship with Leslie and knowing that he was probably grieving during that time – plus he was not nominated for anything that year and wasn’t even a presenter (both Andy and Leon were nominated for Best Actor and Aaron was a presenter for the Best Actress award, so at least the other 3 had a reason to attend aside from the tribute).

Also, in the very last segment (after Fat Gor and Alan did their speech), the hosts invited everyone (all the presenters, nominees, and pretty much everyone else who wanted to go up there) on to the stage so that Hacken Lee (who was invited up after the speech) and Alan could lead the entire group in a song that represented HK’s fighting spirit. It was a pretty appropriate closing if you ask me.

Julian (Chilam) Cheung's 2011 Concert (張智霖我係外星人演唱會)

Julian (Chilam) Cheung promises wife Anita they will take wedding pictures at 60 years old - AsianFanatics Forum

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I translated this article for AF and really enjoyed it, so figured I'd share it here on my blog.  Both Mingpao and Oriental Daily had a few really good articles recapping Chilam's concert!  I can't wait for this concert to be released on DVD -- definitely buying it for sure!

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Source:  Mingpao, Oriental Daily

Translation:  llwy12

Julian (Chilam) Cheung promises wife Anita they will take wedding pictures at 60 years old

Picture credits as listed

The final show of Chilam Cheung’s 2011 concert ended the day before yesterday at the HK Coliseum amidst an aura of family love, friendship, and tears.

During the final show, Chilam once again declared his love for his wife Anita Yuen onstage, but this time, he was prepared with tissues, just in case. In a moving speech directed towards his wife, Chilam talks about how he had a bit of a rebellious streak and didn’t want to let the Media run his life, so back when he and Anita married, they did so secretly, without much ceremony. In a shaky voice, Chilam stated: “We didn’t even take wedding photos! I definitely owe her – I promise that when we are 60 years old, we will take the wedding pictures together!” When Anita heard this, she was so touched that she was in tears. Then, Chilam started to sing the song《未響妻》for his wife, however he was so emotional and in tears that he couldn’t complete it and had to re-start all over again. Chilam then said: “Recently, there have been reports that my wife has been feeling ill…it is true – she has a thyroid gland ailment, yet every day, she still accompanies me jogging in preparation for my concert. Whether in sickness or health, facing life or death, I want to be with you forever!” This once again caused Anita to cry.

For finale night, Chilam invited his best friend Aaron Kwok onstage and together, they performed Aaron’s hit “Never Ending Love” and each showed off their dance moves. With regard to his buddy Aaron, Chilam states: “I met Aaron when I filmed my first movie and since then have known him for 15 years – during 13 of those years, I would see him more often than I’d see my wife!” Before coming on the stage, Aaron took the opportunity to play a joke on his buddy, telling him to get into his ‘dance’ pose, then telling him to be careful not to tear his pants – Chilam self-consciously checked his pants for a tear, causing the audience to burst out in laughter.

Chilam’s other musical guest was Cecilia Cheung, with whom he had collaborated on an MV years ago. The two sang the song “Thanks For Caring”, holding hands and hugging during the performance. It’s been years since Cecilia performed at the HK Coliseum, so she was visibly nervous and went off-key at certain parts. Chilam praised her performance, saying that she had already practiced over 100 times during rehearsal and did a good job.

During the encore, Chilam invited his rumored ex-girlfriend Maple Hui on stage to perform their classic duet “Modern Love Story”. Maple praised Chilam and said that even though they had not seen each other for 19 years, he is still as handsome now as he was 20 years ago. While they performed, Maple’s husband Jimmy Wong (Shu Kei) used his cellphone to take pictures, while Chilam’s wife Anita stood by the stage in support of her husband.

The highlight of the show however, was the guest of honor – Chilam’s 4 year old son Morton! After Chilam’s duet with Maple, a clip of Morton singing George Lam’s classic “Need You Every Minute” was suddenly played and Morton was brought onto the stage, carrying a Buzz Lightyear doll in his arms. Chilam took his son into his arms and father / son shared a sweet kiss on the lips. Then Chilam asked his son a few questions:

Chilam: “Are you sleepy?”
Morton: “Yes”
Chilam: “Do you know where you are?”
Morton: “At concert”
Chilam: “Do you miss Daddy?”
Morton: “…..”

Chilam pretended to be ‘mad’ and sent his son off stage, but making sure to tell the audience: “That’s my son! If you see him, don’t hit him!”

The concert ended with Chilam singing 《祝君好》 (the themesong to “Return of the Cuckoo”), once again becoming emotional and shedding tears as he went offstage.