The ninth Golden Broom Awards ‘celebrate’ the worst in Chinese film
This year’s Golden Broom Awards – China’s equivalent to the US’ Golden Raspberry Awards, which “awards” the worst movies of the previous year – crowned Buddies in India, Once Upon a Time and Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz as the most disappointing Chinese films of 2017 at a ceremony in Beijing on Monday.
Chinese actress Liu Yifei was named the most disappointing actress for her performances in fantasy drama Once Upon a Time and The Chinese Widow, while actor Zheng Kai was given the equivalent award for the male performer. While few winners ever show up to claim their awards, actor Wang Baoqiang made a surprising appearance to claim the worst director title for his maiden directing work Buddies in India. Joking that he felt sorry for the audiences who saw his film, Wang said that he hoped the award will inspire him to improve as a director. Wang’s acceptance speech quickly went viral in China, winning applause from thousands of Chinese netizens.
Founded by Chinese film critic Cheng Qingsong in 2009, the award is organized by Chinese film journal Youth Film Handbook. Claiming that the Golden Broom’s goal is to “sweep away bad Chinese films,” the organizers select each year’s “winners” through three rounds of voting. The first round is led by the journal’s editors to produce a list of candidates, the second sees netizens vote on this list, after which a group of professional film critics determine who gets the awards.
A number of Chinese netizens have expressed their concerns about the fairness of the awards since the initial candidate list is handpicked by the journal’s editors instead of public vote.
The journal also gave out awards dedicated to the best in Chinese films that same day.