Xu Ang’s "courtroom" drama, “12 Citizens” (“Shier Gongmin”) won five awards at the China Movie Channel Media Awards held on June 20 as part of the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival.
Hailed Best Film, “12 Citizens” was the directorial debut of Xu Ang, who has a solid background in theater. The film paved way for his first Best Director award.
The movie is about the mock trial of a young man accused of killing his father. Conducting the "trial" are 12 middle-aged men coming from different backgrounds.
Xu teamed up with Hanjing Long and Li Yujiao in rewriting the story for their Chinese adaptation of American film and TV writer Reginald Rose’s play, “Twelve Angry Men.” The collaboration proved to be a brilliant one, as jurors declared the movie Best Screenplay.
Rose’s “Twelve Angry Men” made its TV debut in 1954 and hit the big screen in 1957 (“12 Angry Men”) with Sidney Lumet as director. Lumet’s critically acclaimed film version made it a Hollywood classic.
American film and music critic and author Derek Elley, writing for Film Business Asia, described Xu’s version of the classic film as “engrossing” and “superbly written and played.”
The 12 citizens are portrayed by Ban Zan, Han Tong-sheng, Gao Dongping, He Bing, Lei Jia, Li Guangfu, Liu Hui, Mi Tiezeng, Qian Bo, Wang Gang, Zhang Yongqiang, Zhao Chunyang. All of them are veteran stage actors.
He Bing was recognized Best Actor in a Leading Role and Han Tong-sheng as Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Prior to the success it gained at the China Movie Channel Media Awards, “12 Citizens” bagged the People's Choice Award for Cinema Today at last year’s International Rome Film Festival (Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma), where it was screened on Oct. 19-20, 2014.
The film was also shown at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California, U.S.A., on Feb. 3-5, 2015. It was released in China only last month.