The Hong Kong Film Awards banquet is also a cinematic Oscar vanity fair.
Following the Academy Awards ceremony, *Vanity Fair* magazine hosts an exclusive post-show dinner. This banquet is a spectacle in its own right, generating buzz that rivals the Oscars red carpet. In the heyday of Hong Kong cinema, the Hong Kong Film Awards banquet commanded similar prestige. However, as the local film industry declined, the banquet lost its luster, to the point that by 2002, the organizing committee could no longer afford to host it.
This year, backed by Liu Zhou's financial support, ample funding was secured. The banquet naturally made a grand comeback, proving even more extravagant than before. Not only was it hosted at the Peninsula Hotel, but the cuisine was also of the highest caliber. The total cost for the evening exceeded three million Hong Kong dollars.
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