Wu Jun, who plays the soldier in Zhang Side, beat Hong Kong's Jacky Chan, Stephen Chow and Jet Li to win Best Actor.

Although Hong Kong movies dominated the nomination lists of major awards in the 15th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor awards went to a mainland movie Zhang Side at Saturday's awards ceremony in Hangzhou.

Zhang Side, a story about a soldier who was one of Chairman Mao's security guards between 1934 and 1944, won the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor at the Hundred Flowers Award, beating its Hong Kong competitors Kung Fu Hustle, Fearless and New Police Story.

Wu Jun, who plays the soldier in Zhang Side, beat Hong Kong's Jacky Chan, Stephen Chow and Jet Li to win Best Actor.

Internationally recognized stars Jacky Chan, Zhang Ziyi and Andy Lau, mainland's top directors Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang, and Stephen Chow won no awards at the festival.

Almost all nominated Hong Kong and Taiwan directors and stars were absent from Saturday's ceremony.

Sources said the jury, a random selection of 99 moviegoers from 1.6 million voters across the country, were told to avoid voting for those not present.

However, Kang Jianmin, vice chairman of the China Film Association, explained the result was due to a relatively elderly jury.

"The average age of the 99-member jury is 37," he said, adding that few among the 1.6 million voters were young film fans.

Winning the Best Supporting Actor for his performance in New Police Story, newly wed Hong Kong star Nicolas Tse was the only well-known star at the ceremony.

"I was surprised that I beat Andy Lau and his House of Flying Daggers," he said.

Albert Yeung Sau-shing, founder and chief of Hong Kong record label Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG), attended the film festival, with his singers including Joey Yung, Eason Chan, Twins and Tse.

Editor: Donald