DgcityChina’s most prestigious film prizes were handed out in the coastal city of Xiamen on Tuesday night, and the top winner took audiences back to one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century. Dead to Rights, a drama set during the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, was named best feature film at the 39th Golden Rooster Awards.
The film follows a group of civilians sheltering in a photo studio as Japanese troops overrun the city. Risking execution, they hide and preserve photographic evidence of the atrocities unfolding outside. Directed by Shen Ao, the 137-minute picture also earned Gao Ye the best actress award for her portrayal of Lin Yuxiu, a woman caught in the horror.
Gao, whose credits span television and independent film, fought back tears as she accepted the prize, thanking audiences for sitting through a demanding film. The victory confirms a revival of mainstream historical cinema that pairs big-budget production with character-driven storytelling, a genre Chinese studios have invested in heavily in recent years.
The best actor prize went to Hong Kong veteran Tony Leung Ka-fai, honoured for playing the villain Fu Longsheng in The Shadow’s Edge. The 68-year-old Leung gripped the rooster-shaped trophy backstage and told reporters he had never wanted to be a star, only an actor. The award completes a rare triple crown for him: he had already won best actor prizes at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Taiwan’s Golden Horse.
The contrast between the two top performances captured the range of this year’s nominations. Gao’s role is intimate, rooted in domestic courage under occupation; Leung’s is a flamboyant turn built on menace and wit. Both beat crowded fields in a year when Chinese box-office totals were increasingly shouldered by local productions rather than Hollywood imports.
Around the ceremony, the parallel Golden Rooster International Film Festival Forum drew festival chiefs from Venice, Toronto, Busan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Filmmaker Zhang Yimou used the gathering to warn that AI-generated video is bringing unprecedented pressure on the industry, while insisting that human creativity remains the core of cinema.
For Chinese filmmakers, the night carried a dual message: the audience at home is unmistakably engaged, and the stories that win its biggest prizes still reach for history’s hardest questions.
