- 'Ten Years, " a series of dystopian vignettes about Hong Kong's future, wins Best Film at local film festival
- Film offers dark predictions of city's future under greater Chinese rule
- Chinese media criticized it for "wanting to scare the public in Hong Kong and spread anxiety"
- Award-winning film outperformed Star Wars at the box office in Hong Kong
The film, which achieved huge success in Hong Kong, has been censored and denounced on the mainland. Several Chinese web portals that had streamed the film awards ceremony in the past did not do so this year over fears that "Ten Years" would win.
The nationalistic Chinese tabloid Global Times slammed the film as "absurd" and accused the filmmakers of wanting to "scare the public in Hong Kong and spread anxiety."
The film's creators thanked the Film Awards for its "courage" in giving the award to the contentious project.
"Thank you for having the courage to give this to us, " producer Andrew Choi said in his acceptance speech.
"This award shows that Hong Kong actually has hope. This award tells us that we need to keep working hard."
Dark vision
Set in 2025 - a decade on from its release - "Ten Years" predicts far greater Chinese control of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), with restrictions placed on the use of the Cantonese dialect, uniformed "youth guards" attacking shops selling banned materials, and desperate protesters driven to self-immolation as Beijing tightens its grip on the city.
Director Chow Kwun-wai told CNN earlier this year that the film was an attempt to shock audiences into taking concrete action to better their situation now, lest they be left with only terrible choices later on.
"Hong Kong has been fighting for democracy for many years, and we've been lied to for many years, " he said.
Huge success
The terrifying vision of the future in "Ten Years" has resonated with audiences in the city, even outperforming "Star Wars" in one cinema on the two films' opening weekends.
