With two major trophies at the 39th China Film Golden Rooster Awards, Dead to Rights, a war-themed blockbuster, emerged as one of the biggest winners at the 2026 China Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival, which concluded in Xiamen, Fujian province, on Tuesday.
The film, which follows a group of ordinary people who risk their lives to reveal evidence of atrocities committed by Japanese invaders during the Nanjing Massacre, grossed 3.01 billion yuan ($415 million) during last year's summer movie season. It resonated with younger audiences, prompting renewed interest in one of the darkest chapters of modern Chinese history. It took home the Best Feature Film and Best Actress awards.
Director Shen Ao said the film paid tribute to the compatriots who suffered and died during a period of national weakness and turmoil. He said that today's peaceful and prosperous era makes it possible for Chinese filmmakers to create more and better works.
Gao Ye won the Best Actress award for her portrayal of a courageous woman in the film. A native of Changzhou — a city in Jiangsu province not far from Nanjing, the province's capital — Gao said she had grown up surrounded by the history of the massacre.
To prepare for the role, she immersed herself in historical materials and recalled how Shen helped the cast develop a shared understanding of the period. "Before filming began, the director gave each member of the main creative team a USB drive containing the materials we might need. We watched them over and over, deliberately immersing ourselves in that period of history," Gao recalled.
The Best Actor award went to Hong Kong veteran Tony Leung Ka-fai for his portrayal of a complex criminal mastermind in the action thriller The Shadow's Edge, which grossed 1.2 billion yuan at the box office last summer.
With an acting career spanning more than four decades, Leung recalled that when he first entered the industry, a director had promised to make him a star. But that was not quite what he wanted.
"I said, 'I don't want to be a star — I want to be an actor.' I think 'star' is a title that other people give you. As an actor, you can play many different roles, and that enriches your life. A good actor can deepen their understanding of life through different experiences and roles and bring what they observe in everyday life into their work," he said.
Zheng Dasheng won the Best Director award for Hideaway: The Dossiers, inspired by the true stories of Communist Party of China archival keepers who secretly preserved more than 20,000 documents in Shanghai from 1931 to 1949.
Despite its modest budget, the film received five nominations. Zheng said the creative team had sought to find a new way to bring little-known episodes of history to the screen. "We have tried to use an unconventional narrative to revisit this chapter of history, through the microscopic scenes of life submerged by time," he said.
The Best Screenplay award went to the writing team behind Dear You, a moving story about Chaoshan immigrants living and working in Southeast Asia. Director and co-screenwriter Lan Hongchun said the rich culture and natural scenery of the Chaoshan region — which comprises Shantou, Chaozhou and Jieyang in Guangdong province — had nourished him. The film also received the Special Jury Award.
The Best Supporting Actress award went to Lan Xiya for playing a young deaf woman in Sound of Silence, which raised public awareness of the rights of people with hearing impairments. Lan spoke about the challenges of learning sign language, saying the hardest part was not simply mastering the gestures but understanding the world of people who cannot hear.
The film also earned its director, Wan Li, the Best Directorial Debut award. Having been in the film industry for less than two years, Wan said the recognition had given him encouragement and confidence at a time when the industry was facing what many describe as a downturn.
The Best Supporting Actor award went to ethnic Uygur actor Wushouer Sailai for his portrayal of a 70-year-old folk artist in the biographical film Wan Tongshu, a story recounting the efforts to rescue and preserve the complete Twelve Muqam, a traditional musical suite, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
A total of 20 awards were presented at this year's Golden Rooster Awards.
