Tsui Hark versus Zhang Yimou

Two huge blockbusters are battling it out for top spot at the AFAs, an annual awards ceremony celebrating the best in Asian film. Zhang Yimou’s The Flowers of War and Tsui Hark’s Flying Swords of Dragon Gate are both competing against each other for Best Film, though with Golden Globe-winning A Separation in the mix it may be a moot point. The Iranian film has been almost universally praised for its subtle depiction of spousal life in a repressive society.

Rounding out the nominees is Taiwan’sWarriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, India’s You Don’t Get Life a Second Time and Japan’s Postcard.

Both Zhang and Hark are also up for Best Director accolades.

While Flying Swords has marginally pipped Flowers to the post with seven nominations to six, the latter has been winning at the cinema, garnering one of the top box receipts of all time in China. Currently, The Flowers of War stands at RMB563.5 million (US$89 million) while Flying Swords of Dragon Gate has RMB509 million (US$80.6 million).

However, this has to be weighed up against cost of production: Zhang's film is the most expensive in China's history at around US$100 million, while Hark's is a mere US$35 million, which means that Flying Swords looks to make substantially more profit.

For more details on the Asian Film Awards, click here.