Chinese director Li Ying's Japanese production 2H and 6ixtynin9 by Thai director Pe-nek Ratanaruang shared the FIPRESCI prize at the 24th Hong Kong International Film Festival (April 12-27).

In a statement to the press, Romanian critic Mihai Chirilov stated that the jury "wanted to make a statement and to be more radical." He added: "Our goal is to recognise unknown films without other awards."

Despite the fact that the Chinese film Suzhou River was a hit with audiences and film critics alike, Freddie Wong, president of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society stated the film was dropped from consideration because it had already won a number of international prizes including the Tiger Award at Rotterdam.