"The Knot", a movie about love separated by the Taiwan Strait but lasted 60 years, won the Best Feature Film for the 14th Beijing Student Film Festival on Saturday evening

The widely anticipated "Tuya's Marriage", the Best Film Golden Bear Award winner at the 57th Berlin Film Festival and nominated as best feature film, director and actress at the student film festival, got nothing.

"The Knot" was directed by Yin Li and stared popular Chinese mainland actor Chen Kun and Taiwanese actress Vivian Hsu.

Tony Leung Ka Fai, who played a countryside teacher in Zheng Kehong's "My Career as a Teacher", beat Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Chow Yun-Fat, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshivo and Daniel Wu to get the most popular Hong Kong actor selected by the college students who participated in the festival.

Holding the "Flying Tiger" cup in hand at the ceremony late Saturday evening, Leung Ka Fai said he had intended to retire, but changed his idea because of the encourage, support and recognition given by the students on his first arrival at the film festival.

"I promise you that I'll be back next year, and the year after next!" said Leung, who has won the Best Actor for Hong Kong Film Award three times and Best Supporting Actor one time. His films "Reign Behind the Curtain" and "Burning of the Imperial Palace" shot both in 1983 were best known by the mainland's audience.

Hong Kong veteran director Jacob Cheung's "A Battle of Wits", based on a Japanese cartoon featuring an ancient Chinese anti-war saint, and mainland director Zhang Yibai's "The Longest Night in Shanghai", about a low Chinese woman taxi driver and a famed Japanese dresser who fall in love with each other after whole night's being together alone despite the obstacle of language, picked up the Jury Award.

Li Yixiang, who is even not familiar to Chinese audience, got the Best Actor for his performance in Chen Daming's "One Foot off the Ground", a black-humor movie about three opera troupe members who are forced to change their profession when their funds dry up. He also stared in Li Yang's "Blind Shaft", which won the Silver Bear award at 2003 Berlin Film Festival.

Siqin Gaowa, a veteran Inner Mongolian actress who had disappeared from the silver screen several years, got the Best Actress award for her role of an old-fashioned lady who is crazy for her loved men in Ann Hui's "The Postmodern Life Of My Aunt", which also starred Chow Yun-Fat.

"Call for Love", a love comedy assembling a batch of mainland stars, pulled off the Best Visual Effect award, while Wang Fen's "The Case", a thriller telling of a man's sexual desire from a woman director's angle, and Zhuang Xinyu's "Teeth of Love", a trinal movie about the relationship between a woman's memory and love, took home the Best First Feature, a similar award to the director award for the maiden film.

The Artistic Exploration Award, last year won by "Perpetual Motion", a movie portraying four Chinese modern women who are successful in their careers but vacuous spiritually with its unique style, is vacant this year.

Altogether 35 Chinese-made films entered the festival this year, vying for total 16 awards, 14 of which were selected by a jury consisting of 30 students from 29 universities across China and 11 experts.

The most popular director, actor, actress and Hong Kong actor/actress were directly selected by the college students who participated in the festival.

Feng Gong, known as one of the best Chinese comedian, and Xu Jinglei, an actress and director, were selected as the most popular directors for "Bie Na Ziji Bu Dang Ganbu" (don't take yourself as a cadre) and "Dreams May Come".

Mainland rising Chen Kun was selected as the most popular actor for his roles both in two entries of the film festival, "The Knots" and thriller "The Door", with controversial Zhao Wei, who also starred in two entries, "The Postmodern Life Of My Aunt" and "The Longest Night in Shanghai", the most popular actress. Both won the awards for the second time.

Zhou Bo won the Best Freshman for Su Lei's "Wang Shan", about a struggle between a poor peasant and the local officials, with Pu Jian's "The Exam" winning the Special Award for Education-theme Film, Lan Bing and Ye Jing's "A Great Master Recaptured", about Peking Opera master Mei Lanfeng, winning the Special Award for Documentary Film, Zhai Junjie's "My Long March" winning the Special Award for Martial Film.

Launched in 1993, The Beijing Student Film Festival is sponsored by the Beijing Normal University and Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television.

As a bridge linking the young people to the films, the festival has been providing a stage for small-budget Chinese-made films and new directors and actors to debut, including Huo Jianqi and his "Postmen in the Mountains", Zhang Yibai and "Spring Subway", Lu Xuechang and his " Cala, My Dog!" and Lu Chan and his "The Missing Gun", which all afterward won domestic or international film awards.