Dec. 22, 2023

Motive Behind Hong Kong Film’s Shocking Oscar Disqualification

Acclaimed Hong Kong Film a Light Never Goes Out has been disqualified from the 2024 Oscars race, followed by the film producer’s reaction towards this turn of events. We delve deeper into what transpired for the film’s removal from the awards. By: Dylan Low

The project was submitted by the Federation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong, for the international feature film category of the 96th Academy Awards in September. However, when the eligible titles were unveiled, A Light Never Goes Out was not mentioned in the list. 

In view of the disqualification, producer Saville Chan released a statement, “It’s not what we wanted to happen, but now is not the time to point fingers. It sounds like a procedural thing over the submission regulations. More importantly, we should address the issue and won’t let this happen again to ensure that well-deserved Hong Kong films can be rightfully submitted to the Oscars in the future.”

There had been prior confusion over Hong Kong’s representation the last few weeks, when their film was not seen on the list of titles by academy voters. The production team discovered the reason, following an official statement released regarding the “rare and regrettable” disqualification.

Chairman of the Federation Crucindo Hung announced the details, saying the selection committee initially consisted of 19 members, but a new group was made after the Academy revised its entry regulations, removing members who were part of the board longer than six years. The Federation was notified a month before those, one of the 13 new committee members had a conflict of interest.

It was further revealed that even with the vote from the unnamed actor being rendered invalid, A Light Never Goes Out would still claim the highest number of votes. Conflict sparked as the Academy refused the Federation’s appeal to proceed with the highest voted film and requested for a replacement submission. The Federation dismissed the idea, acknowledging it was unfair to the original film.

The feature film debut of filmmaker Anastasia Tsang, A Light Never Goes Out was fully funded by the First Feature Film Initiative (FFFI) of the Hong Kong Film Development Council (FDC). The feature drama portrays a widow, represented by notable actor Sylvia Chang, who looks to honour her late husband’s wish of restoring a diminished neon sign, previously known as an icon in Hong Kong. The cast comprises other mainstream stars Simon Yam, Cecilia Choi and Henick Chou.

The film garnered plenty of public attention, as they made their world premiere at Tokyo International Film Festival in October last year, with Chang winning best actress at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards a month later. The European premiere took place at Rotterdam, while the US premiere was at the New York Asian Film Festival. The film was distributed last month in the US through Orchid Tree Media, as Hong Kong film company Entertaining Power has been managing sales worldwide.

This disqualification means Hong Kong will not be in contention for the Oscars for the first time in 20 years.

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