Golden Koala Awards up for grabs

Stars from the Chinese film industry are flying into Sydney for the Golden Koala Chinese Film Festival, which kicked off last night.

Known as the largest and most influential overseas Chinese film event, the third Golden Koala Award Ceremony will be held on Monday night in Randwick.

President of the Chinese Film Festival, Ray Shen said the event was a crucial promotional event.

“This is one of the highlights of Chinese New Year in Sydney, and brings a lot of overseas interest on Sydney,” he said.

“The highlight is the Golden Koala Awards at the Randwick Ritz on Monday night with very famous film stars and directors coming from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China.”

Film stars Hu Guan, Mr and Mrs Jing Liang and Kun Yang from mainland China will appear at the event, along with Fiona Sit from Hong Kong and Peijia Huang from Taiwan.

Organised by Chinese Film Incorporated, the event promotes interaction between western and eastern cultures and hopes to create lasting cross-cultural friendships.

“The name Golden Koala Koala Festival was chosen because it shows the event is now an Australian Chinese  film festival, not only held in Sydney,” Mr Shen said.

“Until [a few] years ago, the event was called the Sydney Chinese Film Festival but we are also showing films in Melbourne and Brisbane so we realised we had to change the name.”

The festival will feature Taiwanese romantic comedy Cha Cha for Twins, a movie about two identical twin sisters struggling to find individuality. Starring actress Peijia Huang who plays both sisters, the twins’ most pressing obstacle is most people are not able to tell them apart.

Meanwhile, Sydneysiders will celebrate the return of the city’s Dragon Ball as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Returning for the first time in 40 years, the evening will take place on February 23 at Town Hall.

“A big band, big sounds, big frocks, floor shows, dancers and performers will make the Dragon Ball an unforgettable way to welcome the Year of the Snake,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

By Peter Hackney and Marcus Braid