Hong Kong has selected period epic The Banquet as its entry for the best foreign-language filmcategory of next year's Academy Awards.

The film, directed by China's Feng Xiaogang, is a co-production between Hong Kong's Media Asia and Beijing-based Huayi Brothers. It recently premiered atVenice and has grossed $13m across Chinese-speaking territories since its release on Sep 14.

Hong Kong's nomination process is the responsibility of theFederation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong (FMFP). The selection committee,comprising producers, distributors and sales agents, takes box officeperformance into consideration along with artistic merit.

The Banquet has also been officially selected for this year's Asia Pacific Film Festival (APFF), scheduled to be held in Taipei on Oct 21.

Meanwhile, Taiwan is submitting Cheng Wen-tang's Blue Cha Cha as its own contender for best foreign-language film. Produced by Green Light Film, the drama follows a woman who has just been released from prison. Su Hui-lun, Lee Wei and Lu Yi-ching head the cast.

Su Chao-pin's Silk, Taiwan's biggest local production for some years which premiered at Cannes earlier this year, would also have been a strong contender. But as the film opens this weekend, it failed to qualify.

Mainland China is strongly tipped to put forward Zhang Yimou's Curse Of The Golden Flower which iscurrently having a week-long qualifying run in Shenyang city in Northern China.However, final confirmation of China's decision is not expected until tomorrow afternoon.