Tsui Hark's Flying Swords of Dragon Gate  and Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War lead the nominations at the 6th Asian Film Awards.

Three blockbusters from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong lead this year’s competition for the Asian Film Awards, with the 3-D martial-arts movie Flying Swords of Dragon Gate picking up seven nominations, including best film.

That was followed by Yimou's Flowers...  and Wei Te-sheng’s two-part, 4-1/2-hour epic, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, with six nominations each, also including best film.

Postcard from Japan, A Separation from Iran, and India’s You Don’t Get Life a Second Time round out the list for best film.

Flying Swords picked up nods for veteran Hong Kong director Tsui Hark and best actor for Chen Kun for his dual role as a power-hungry eunuch and a look-alike treasure hunter. The movie also stars Jet Li as a Ming Dynasty-era general who battles imperial assassins at a remote outpost in the Chinese desert.

Chinese director Zhang Yimou was also nominated in the best-director category for Flowers..., which features Hollywood star Christian Bale as an American caught up in Japan’s brutal occupation of Nanjing in 1937. With a price tag of nearly $100 million, it’s the most expensive Chinese film ever made.

Taiwan’s Wei Te-sheng was nominated for best director for Warriors..., an epic based on the true story of the island’s Seediq tribes, who launched a bloody uprising in 1930 against Japanese rule.

Amid the blockbusters, several high-profile small-budget films were recognized, mainly in the acting categories. The two stars of the hit Taiwan coming-of-age comedy You Are the Apple of My Eye were nominated: Michelle Chen for best actress and Ko Chen-tung for best newcomer.

Deanie Ip and Andy Lau were nominated for best actress and best actor in A Simple Life , about an aging household servant and her master.

Actress Eugene Domingo and screenwriter Chris Martinez of the Philippines were nominated for The Woman in the Septic Tank, a satire on Asian art-house directors making films for Western audiences. The movie was hit in the local market last summer.

This year’s nominations reveal that China “is a growing powerhouse in movies,” said Roger Garcia, executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, which organizes the awards.

The mix of historical epics and fantasy-action films highlight China’s “ambition to make big movies,” he said. “It’s a sign of how Chinese-language cinema is trying to attract mass audiences.”

In addition to best film, A Separation received four other nominations, including two for Asghar Farhadi in the best director and best screenwriter categories. The film, about a woman seeking a divorce from her husband, has been one of the most acclaimed of the past year and took home the award for best foreign-language film at Sunday’s Golden Globe awards. “This is a film that has resonated throughout the world, and the AFA is no exception,” Mr. Garcia said. “It’s a story that has universal appeal.”

This year’s AFA will be presented on March 19 at a ceremony in Hong Kong. The 12-member jury that will select the winners is headed by Singaporean director Eric Khoo, the first jury president who isn’t part of the Hong Kong movie industry. Past presidents include actress Michelle Yeoh, actor Tony Leung Ka-fai and director Yonfan.

The full list of nominees:

Best Film

• Nader and Simin, A Separation (Iran)


• Postcard (Japan)


• The Flowers of War (Mainland China)


• Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (Hong Kong/Mainland China)


• Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (Taiwan)


• You Don’t Get Life a Second Time (India)

Best Director

• Asghar Farhadi, Nader and Simin, A Separation


• Teddy Soeriaatmadja, Lovely Man


• Sono Sion, Guilty of Romance


• Tsui Hark, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate


• Wei Te-sheng, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale


• Zhang Yimou, The Flowers of War

Best Actor

• Chen Kun, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate


• Donny Damara, Lovely Man


• Andy Lau, A Simple Life


• Park Hae Il, War of the Arrows


• Yakusho Koji, Chronicle of My Mother

Best Actress

• Vidya Balan, The Dirty Picture


• Michelle Chen, You Are the Apple of My Eye


• Eugene Domingo, The Woman in the Septic Tank


• Leila Hatami, Nader and Simin, A Separation


• Deanie Ip, A Simple Life

Best Newcomer

• Ko Chen-tung, You Are the Apple of My Eye


• Eric Lin Hui-min, Starry Starry Night


• Maeda Ohshiro, I Wish


• Ni Ni, The Flowers of War


• Gita Novalista, The Mirror Never Lies

Best Supporting Actor

• Umin Boya, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale


• Lawrence Ko, Jump! Ashin


• Lee Je-hoon, The Front Line


• Mario Maurer, The Outrage

Best Supporting Actress

• Shamaine Buencamino, Niño


• Gwei Lun-mei, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate


• Cris Horwang, Headshot


• Mitsushima Hikari, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai


• Yan Ni, 11 Flowers

Best Screenwriter

• Asghar Farhadi, Nader and Simin, A Separation


• Shindô Kaneto, Postcard


• Liu Heng, Yan Geling, The Flowers of War


• Alan Mak, Felix Chong, Overheard 2


• Chris Martinez, The Woman in the Septic Tank

Best Cinematographer

• Chin Ting-chang, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale


• Vishvajith Karunarathna, Flying Fish


• Kim Woo-hyung, The Front Line


• Jake Pollock, Lai Yiu-fai (HKSC), Wu Xia


• Rahmat Syaiful, The Mirror Never Lies

Best Production Designer

• Suzanne Caplan Merwanji, You Don’t Get Life a Second Time


• Ryu Seong-hee, The Front Line


• Taneda Yohei, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale


• Yee Chung-man, Ben Lau, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate


• Yee Chung-man, Sun Li, Wu Xia

Best Composer

• Chan Kwong-wing, Peter Kam, Chatchai Pongprapaphan, Wu Xia


• Chen Qigang, The Flowers of War


• Ricky Ho, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale


• Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, A.R. Rahman, Neeraj Shridhar, Rockstar


• Sakamoto Ryuichi, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai

Best Editor

• Curran Pang, Overheard 2


• Nelly Quettier, 11 Flowers


• Hayedeh Safiyari, Nader and Simin, A Separation


• Anand Subaya, You Don’t Get Life a Second Time


• Tang Man-to, White Vengeance

Best Visual Effects

• Ritesh Aggarwal, Ra. One


• Kamiya Makoto, Gantz


• Wook Kim, Josh Cole, Frankie Chung, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate


• Xiao Yang, Chang Song, A Law, Li Ming-hsung, Li Jin-hui, Starry Starry Night


• Yung Kwok-yin, Andy Kang, Wu Xia

Best Costume Designer

• Amano Kyoko, Emura Kouichi, Milocrorze: A Love Story


• William Chang Suk-ping, The Flowers of War


• Mok Kwan-kit, Wong Ming-ha, White Vengeance


• Noppadol Techo, The Outrage


• Yee Chung-man, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

(Press Release from the site.)