Zhao Wei leads nominees at the China Film Director’s Guild Award

The nominations for the 5th China Film Director's Guild Award were announced in Beijing on Monday.

Actress Zhao Wei's maiden film as a director, So Young, led the shortlist with six nominations, including the top awards: Movie of the Year and Director of the Year.

Director Feng Xiaogang was appointed as chairman of the final jury this year. "No other film awards in China can surpass the position the Guild Award has in my heart, because this award is judged completely by filmmakers," said Feng, describing the award as "our own award."

One night before the nomination ceremony, Beijing Xihe Xinghui Pictures Co Ltd posted on its official Weibo account that it had applied for Jia Zhangke's A Touch of Sin to be removed from the shortlist as the company is unable to provide an official copy of the film to the Director's Guild.

During an interview with sina.com, Guild President Li Shaohong explained that since A Touch of Sin has not yet reached theaters nor have the producers released an official DVD, it will be unable to compete for the honor.

"The judges need to get together (to view a DVD) or log on a certain server to watch the film, but A Touch of Sin is unable to be viewed in either of these two ways. So after much discussion and deep regret we accepted the company's application. I expect to see more of Jia's work in the future," said Li.

The award ceremony will be held on April 9 in the newly built Director's Guild building in Beijing and broadcast live on CCTV 6.