The Magnolia Awards Ceremony of the 2016 Shanghai International Film Festival hailed Sun Li as the Best Actress in a Leading Role and “Legend of Miyue” as Best TV Drama during the awards and closing ceremonies of the 22nd Shanghai TV Festival held at the butterfly orchid-inspired Shanghai Oriental Art Center in Pudong on June 10.
At one time during her acceptance speech, tears flowed from the eyes of the 33-year-old Shanghai-born actress.
The short-haired Sun who graced the event in a black and white ensemble beat Song Jia (“Young Marshall”), Yan Ni (“Wang Dahua Revolutionary Career”), Zhao Liying aka Zanilia Zhao (“The Journey of Flower”) and Zhao Wei aka Vicki Zhao (“Tiger Mom”).
Zheng Xiaolong’s historical epic, “Legend of Miyue,” where Sun portrays the role of an empress-in-the-making, bested nine other nominees.
Based from Jiang Sheng Nan’s online novel of the same title about Mi Ba Zi, China’s first Empress Dowager, Beijing TV and Dragon TV broadcast it from Nov. 30, 2015 to Jan. 9, 2016.
On the Web, the political drama’s first two episodes garnered an incredible 700 million hits in only 24 hours, reported China.org.
“In the Silence”; Kong Sheng and Li Xue’s historical drama, “Nirvana in Fire”; Zhang Xinjian’s war series, “Once Upon a Time in Tsingtao”; “Theater”; Li Xue’s spy war drama, “The Disguiser”; Danny Gao, Liang Shengquan and Lin Yufen’s romance-fantasy, “The Journey of Flower”; Yao Xiaofeng’s comedy-drama, “Tiger Mom”; Kong Sheng and Sun Mo Long’s drama, “Two Families from Wenzhou”; and Zhang Li’s war drama, “Young Marshall” also vied for Best TV Drama.
Zhang Guoli, the 61-year-old award-winning actor (“Back to 1942,” “The Strangers in Beijing”) and director and husband to TV actress Deng Jie, chaired this year’s jury for the TV series category, according to CCTV.com.
The 2016 Shanghai International Film and TV Festival refers to the 22nd Shanghai TV Festival (June 6-10) and to the 19th Shanghai International Film Festival (June 11-19).
Sun will reunite with two fellow Shanghai Disneyland Honorary Ambassadors, the internationally acclaimed pianist Lang Lang and retired basketball superstar Yao Ming on June 16 to attend its grand opening, reported Shanghai Daily.