Winners of Golden Roosters Awards announced

Most insiders in the Chinese film industry and movie fans turned their attention Saturday to the closing ceremony of the 28th Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival.

The festival – held in Xiamen, Fujian province, from Nov 19 to 23 – drew more than 500 stars and celebrities to walk the glittering red carpet.

A total of 19 Golden Rooster awards – among the most prestigious honors in the world's second-largest movie market – were presented.

The Wandering Earth, the all-time highest-grossing sci-fi film in China, took home the best picture award, making the epic adapted from novelist Liu Cixin's namesake novel the top winner.

Acclaimed arthouse film So Long, My Son was also one of the biggest winners with three major awards.

The movie – which follows a couple who have endured longtime suffering caused by the death of their son -- earned Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei respectively the best actor and the best actress awards, as well as the best screenplay, co-penned by Wang Xiaoshuai and A Mei.

Hong Kong director Dante Lam took home the best director award for his actions-studded blockbuster Operation Red Sea.

Cameraman Cao Yu won the best cinematography for director Chen Kaige's fantastic epic Legend of the Demon Cat.

Wang Zhifei scooped up the best supporting actor for his role starring as Zhu De, one of the founding fathers of New China, in the military epic The Bugle from Gutian.

Dying to Survive, a box-office hit that aroused widely social concerns about medicine prices, won the 1985-born director Wen Muye the best directorial debut award.

Shanghai actress Wu Yufang was honored as best supporting actress for her incarnation of a somewhat unqualified mother in the film Send Me to the Clouds.

Red Flowers and Green Leaves, about a newly married couple who both struggle with their own "secrets", took home the middle-and small-budget film award.

The Wind Guardians, a fantastic tale following a young man's adventures to seek his missing mother, took home the best animated film prize.

The best documentary award went to Striving for Dream.

Find My Way Home – a heartwarming tale about a girl and a puppy – was named the best children's film.

Actors Yang Zaibao, Wang Tiecheng and Xu Huanshan, all 1930s-born artists, co-won the lifetime achievement award as a tribute to their decades-long devotion to Chinese cinema.

Previously, the Hundred Flowers Awards – which are selected by the audience – alternated with the Golden Roosters Awards, picked by film experts. The Golden Roosters now will be awarded every year.