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Even if the filmmakers behind The Last Dance and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In were to shock everyone and take home zero trophies at the end of the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) ceremony this Sunday, it is safe to assume they would still feel like winners.Rounding out the best picture race are Philip Yung Tsz-kwong’s haunting family drama Papa (with 11 nods), based on a real-life case of killing; Adam Wong Sau-ping’s The Way We Talk (seven), about a deaf woman’s self-discovery; and Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well (five), which highlights a loophole in same-sex couples’ legal rights in Hong Kong.Below, Post film editor Edmund Lee gives his predictions for who will win in the major categories, while also reflecting on who should win.Best filmWho will win – Twilight of the Warriors: W...

In 1998, the American composer and lyricist Stephen Trask paired up with writer and actor John Cameron Mitchell to come up with a groundbreaking rock musical loosely inspired by a German babysitter and prostitute who worked in a small city in the US state of Kansas.The multi-award winning Hedwig and the Angry Inch has since toured the world, with its genderqueer protagonist winning over fans with her story of longing, trauma, departed identities and self-discovery.Born “Hansel” in communist East Berlin, Hedwig is full of scars, both figurative (traumatised by past abusive lovers) and literal (a botched sex-change operation that gave her a one-inch flesh mound between her legs).The story follows Hedwig on tour as she stalks her ex-lover and nemesis – a much more successful musician who was ...

Andor returns for its second season on Disney+ with a three-episode premiere this week and the weight of the Star Wars galaxy seemingly on its shoulders.But creator Tony Gilroy says he and his collaborators felt little pressure from Disney and Lucasfilm as they sought to tell the story of a growing revolutionary resentment against the Galactic Empire, and the birth of the Rebel Alliance leading up to the events of the 2016 film he scripted, Rogue One.“We took no creative notes on this show,” says Gilroy, whose screenwriting résumé also includes four films in the Bourne franchise and 2007 Oscar nominee Michael Clayton, which he also directed.“I’ve never had this much freedom before, even in final-cut films that I worked on. The latitude was astonishing.”The forthcoming season, whose product...

Noodles are said to have been invented in China more than 4,000 years ago, with some accounts claiming Marco Polo brought them to Italy during the 13th century.If this is true, Italian-Chinese fusion should feel like a natural pairing.However, even slight deviations from Italian recipes have been known to spark fierce objections from traditionalists on the internet and beyond.But for one MasterChef Italia contestant, the courage to blend the two cuisines and break from tradition was the thing that ultimately led her to victory.In February, Italian-Chinese cook Anna Zhang Yilan was crowned the winner of the 14th season of MasterChef Italia. She was the first ethnically Chinese contestant to win the Italian TV cooking contest.Zhang reacts after being announced the winner of the 14th season o...

Microdosing is gaining popularity with a new breed of health-seekers.These self-experimenters take a very small amount of psilocybin mushrooms or LSD to try to reduce anxiety, stress and depression.Some claim the practice gives them access to joy, creativity and connection they cannot get otherwise.This is not a full-blown acid trip – or even close. If you see visions, it is not a microdose.People who microdose do not do it every day. Instead, they take tiny doses intermittently, on a schedule or when they feel it could be beneficial.A microdoser harvests a psilocybe cubensis mushroom to make into powder for consumption. Photo: APOne small study suggests any psychological benefits come from users’ expectations – the placebo effect. But the science is still new and research is ongoing....

Lead cast: Kim Hye-ja, Son Suk-ku, Han Ji-minLatest Nielsen rating: 6.1 per centIn the fantasy romance Heavenly Ever After, Korean screen icon Kim Hye-ja (Mother) plays a woman who reunites with her husband in the afterlife – but with a catch.This is the latest series from veteran writer Lee Nam-kyu, who recently drew acclaim for the mental-health-focused Netflix series Daily Dose of Sunshine.Heavenly Ever After is pitched somewhere between the British classic A Matter of Life and Death and the more recent US television comedy The Good Place – both of which also imagine administrative snafus in the afterlife – but with a heavy side of K-drama schmaltz.

“It’s alive! It’s alive!”That quote from the 1931 film adaptation of Frankenstein ushered in an era of classic monster films for the production company Universal Pictures. Now, almost 100 years later, it is helping Universal herald a new era of theme parks in the US state of Florida.Opening on May 22, Universal Epic Universe is the third theme park at the Universal Orlando Resort – fourth if you count Universal Volcano Bay water park – and the first major traditional park to open in the state since 1999’s Universal Islands of Adventure.Located about 5 miles (8km) southeast of the existing Universal resort, the new complex includes Epic Universe, as well as three hotels. There is plenty of expansion space for future additions.In a media preview, five of Epic Universe’s fantastic worlds – Ce...

American film composer Aaron Zigman’s musical drama Émigré, about Jewish refugees in Shanghai in the late 1930s, will make its Hong Kong debut in an updated version that its composer says will “complete” an emotional journey that began in 2019.That was the year prominent Chinese conductor Yu Long invited Zigman, who is classically trained, and lyricists Mark Campbell and Brock Walsh to take part in the Émigré project, a joint commission by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.Zigman is known for writing the music for more than 60 Hollywood films – including the 2004 box office hit The Notebook and the 2008 film version of Sex and the City – and for writing and arranging popular albums for musical legends such as Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner.It took...

From French people discovering Taobao to Russian tourists in China, here are five stories you may have missed over the weekend.

Baron Guy Ullens, the Belgian businessman and philanthropist known for his pioneering contemporary art centre in Beijing and a violent family tragedy two years ago, died on April 19 at the age of 90.Ullens was born in San Francisco into an aristocratic Belgian family, and spent his early years moving from one country to another because of his father’s career as a diplomat. After graduating with a law degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven [now KU Leuven] in Belgium, and an MBA from Stanford University in the US, he joined his family’s sugar refinery business Raffinerie Tirlemontoise and orchestrated its 1989 sale to Germany’s Südzucker.In 1999, as head of investment company Artal Group, he acquired majority control of Weight Watchers International through what Forbes described as “...