The Jackie Chan International Action Film Week and its winners
What do you do when you’ve already achieved everything as an actor, director, action legend and singer? Exactly, you set up your own award show to give something back to the film industry. It’s this what the annual Jackie Chan International Action Film Week stands for and even much more.
The annual Jackie Chan International Action Film Week was founded by Jackie Chan and the Shanghai Film Festival committee with the goal of promoting young talent in the film sector and giving Chinese productions a greater platform and awareness. Of course, the main focus here is on the action films.
The announcement of a new film award was made by Jackie Chan himself during the Shanghai Film Festival on June 18, 2014. Jackie Chan was supported on site by action film legend Jean-Claude van Damme. The first award ceremony should take place the following summer.
Course of the event
The annual Jackie Chan International Action Film Week lasts for several days and follows the sequence of the opening forum (discussions with filmmakers on stage), screening of action films as well as the actual award ceremony and the grand closing ceremony.
In previous editions, thanks to the increasing interest in the event on social media around the world, the opening ceremony was also shown, a red carpet show similar to the closing ceremony, which shows many interviews and clips.
The Iron-Man Award
The trohy itself is kind of Jackie Chan’s trademark, a strong fist that shows the thumb up. The name of the coveted trophy translates as “Iron-Man Award” (钢铁人奖). And it is awarded in these categories:
- Best Action Film (最佳动作片奖)
- Best Action Director (最佳动作导演奖)
- Best Action Actor (最佳动作男演员奖)
- Best Action Actress (最佳动作女演员奖)
- Best Action Newcomer (最佳动作新人奖)
- Best Action Choreographer (最佳动作指导奖)
- Best Stunt/Action Scene (最佳特技奖)
- Design Award for Best Fight Scene (最佳打斗场面设计奖)
In addition, there was the Lifetime Achievement (终身 成就 荣誉) for Sammo Hung in 2018. Absolutely deserved.
Each year’s winners
Even though the categories for the Iron Man Award 2014 were set, there were always additions and minor changes to the categories in the course of the award ceremonies. The following charts are taken from the official festival list.
2015: Jackie Chan Action Movie Week (成龙动作电影周)
(also known as: 第一 届 成龙 电影 周)
The very first event took place from June 14th to 18th, 2015 in Shanghai. The opening forum was held at the Shanghai Grand Guangming Theater and the final red carpet was broadcast on Shanghai Oriental Television. Wu Jing was invited as the guest of honor, who opened the event with his film “Lethal Warrior”.
Motto of the first award ceremony: “Tribute to Heroes of the Action Cinema”
| Category | Winner |
| Best Action Film | „Wolf Warrior“ (Wu Jing) |
| Best Action Director | Panna Rittikrai („Chocolate”) |
| Best Action Actor | Wu Jing („Wolf Warrior“) |
| Best Action Actress | Lin Peng („Dragon Blade“) |
| Best Action Newcomer | Wang Baoqiang („Kung Fu Jungle“), Julie Estelle („The Raid 2”) |
| Best Action Choreographer | Prachya Pinkaew und Team („The Protector 2“) |
| Best Action Special Effects | „Wolf Warrior“ |
| Design Award for the Best Fight Scene | „Wolf Warrior“ |
2016: Jackie Chan Action Movie Week (成龙动作电影周)
(also known as: 第二 届 成龙 动作 电影 周)
The opening ceremony of the second event was held at the Xin Hengshan Cinema in Shanghai, while the Movie Night was held at the Xuhui Riverside in Shanghai. The event started on June 12th and ended on June 16th, 2016. The second motto is translated as “Kung Fu in the heart of the world” (“Chinese Kung Fu In The World’s Heart”).
| Category | Winner |
| Best Action Film | „Ip Man 3” (Wilson Yip) |
| Best Action Dirctor | Wilson Yip („Ip Man 3”) |
| Best Action Actor | Owen Wilson ( „No Escape”) |
| Best Action Actress | Zhang Jingchu („For A Few Bullets“) |
| Best Action Newcomer | Han Sang-Hyuk („Chasing“) |
| Best Action Choreographer | John Devore („Point Break”) |
| Best Action Special Effects | „Point Break“ (Jeb Corliss) |
| Design Award for the Best Fight Scene | „Ip Man 3“ |
2017: 2017 Jackie Chan Action Movie Week (成龙动作电影周)
(also known as: 第三届 成龙 电影 周)
The third event took place from July 18-22, 2017 in Shanghai. The opening forum took place in the Chia Hai cinema, the film night in the Oriental Art Center. The motto of this event was to tell a good Chinese story against the background of the “New Silk Road” initiative.
In English this political-economic strategy is “The Belt and Road”, in Chinese 一带 一路. This mega-project, announced in 2013, based on the ancient trade route of the Silk Road, aims to establish and expand intercontinental trade and infrastructure networks between the People’s Republic of China and over 60 other countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Official motto: “Belt and Road”.
| Category | Winner |
| Best Action Film | „Sultan“ (Ali Abbas Zafar) |
| Best Action Director | Dante Lam („Operation Mekong“) |
| Best Action Actor | Scott Adkins („Boyka: Undisputed IV“) |
| Best Action Actress | Yang Mi („Reset“) |
| Best Action Newcomer | Huang Xuan („Extraordinary Mission“) |
| Best Action Choreographer | Nicky Li Chung-Chi („Extraordinary Mission“) |
| Best Action Special Effects | „Extraordinary Mission“ (Alan Mak, Anthony Pun) |
| Design Award for the Best Fight Scene | „Boyka: Undisputed IV“ |
Scott Adkins receives Iron-Man Awards
2018: 4th Annual International Jackie Chan Action Movie Week (成龙国际动作电影周)
(also known as: 第四届 成龙 动作 电影 周)
The fourth event took place from July 18-22, 2018 in Shanghai. This time the title was supplemented by the word “annually”. The opening forum was held in Daiwangfu’s Chengyun Hall, and the film night was held in Yongtaimen Urn City. The venue was in Datong.
The theme of this event was “Stars Against Poverty”.
| Category | Winner |
| Best Action Film | „Operation Red Sea“ (Dante Lam) |
| Best Action Director | Wu Jing („Wolf Warrior 2“) |
| Best Action Actor | Duan Yihong („Explosion“), Wu Jing („Wolf Warrior 2”) |
| Best Action Actress | Fatima Sana Shaikh („Dangal“) |
| Best Action Newcomer | Sanya Malhotra („Dangal“) |
| Best Action Choreographer | Wu Gang („Detective Chinatown 2“) |
| Best Special Effects | „Operation Red Sea“ |
| Design Award for the Best Fight Scene | „Chasing the Dragon“ |
New categories
| Category | Winner |
| Outstanding Artistic Achievement/Lifetime Achievement | Sammo Hung |
| Best Stuntman | Cui Long-Long as double for Wang Bao-Qiang („Detective Chinatown 2”) |
| Best Stuntwoman | Chen Jiao-Jiao as double for Xin Zhi-Lei („Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield”) |
Hinweis: Cui Long-Long (崔龍龍) ist seit der 7. Generation Teil des Jackie Chan Stuntteams.
2019: The 5th Jackie Chan International Action Film Week (成龙国际动作电影周)
(also known as: 第五届 成龙 国际 动作 电影 周)
The fifth event took place in Datong from July 21-27, 2019. Here, too, the title of the event was fine-tuned: The “annual” was deleted – probably for reasons of space – and “movie” became “film”. The reasons for this remain a mystery. Personally, I assume that they wanted to bring up more reference to the well-known film festivals such as TIFF and the like.
This theory might indirectly be confirmed by the motto “More action, more international, more exciting”.
| Category | Winner |
| Best Action Film | „The Big Shot” (Wu Bai) |
| Best Action Director | He Quan („Shadows and Echoes“) |
| Best Action Actor | Wang Qian-Yuan („The Big Shot“) |
| Best Action Actress | Fatima Sana Shaikh („Thugs of Hindostan”) |
| Best Action Choreographer | Nicky Li Chung-Chi & Parvez Shaikh („Junglee“) |
Neue Kategorien
| Category | Winner |
| Best Script Writer | He Quan, Zhang Liang-Xue, Wu Tong-Li („Shadows and Echoes”) |
| Best Art Direction | Eric Lam Che-Kiu („Project Gutenberg”) |
| Best Cinematography | Jason Kwan („Project Gutenberg“) |
| Best Editing | Dmitry Korabelnikov („T-34“) |
| Jury Prize: Best Action Family Film | „Junglee” (Chuck Russell) |
| Jury Prize: Best Ensemble | „T-34“ (Aleksei Sidorov) |
| Outstanding Artistic Achievement/Lifetime Achievement | Yuen Woo-Ping |
Also this year there were some new categories, but unlike the year before, some have been left out. During the 5th edition of the Jackie Chan Action Film Week 2019, no newcomers, no special effects and no outstanding fight scenes were awarded.
2021: The 6th Jackie Chan International Action Film Week (成龙国际动作电影周)
(also known as: 第 6 届 成龙 国际 动作 电影 周)
Since the event was cancelled in 2020 due to the global corona pandemic, it was supposed to be rescheduled in 2021 from August 6th to 8th in Datong. At the press conference on July 15, 2021, in the China Film Museum in Beijing, the first details were revealed, such as the poster, a new song with a music video and the event’s synonymous motto: “Force of China”.
But Corona again turned the award ceremony upside down as it had to be postponed again. From October 14 to 16, 2021, it finally took place in Datong in cold weather down to -5 ° C.
There was one major exception this year, because for the first time no people or films were honoured with awards. This is also due to the pandemic and because many previously scheduled nominees and participants could not fly in due to the repeated postponement of the festival – either because of entry requirements or because the schedule for other films was too tight.
Instead, many films were presented to the audience online in advance to select the best Chinese action films ever, from a list of which a panel of experts then selected the 10 best from the 20 remaining films for the award show. These are:
- Once Upon A Time In China 2 (1992)
- Shaolin Temple (1982)
- The Master (2015)
- Tiger & Dragon (2000)
- A Touch Of Zen (1970)
- New Dragon Gate Inn (1992)
- The Grandmaster (2013)
- Hero (2002)
- A Better Tomorrow (1986)
- Wolf Warrior 2 (2017)
The films Drunken Master (1978), Police Story (1985) and The Battle At Lake Changjin (2021) as well as The Way Of The Dragon (1972) received special mention.
Highlight: In addition to all the impressive show acts, a short video was shown during the closing ceremony that shows the following stars congratulating Jackie Chan on the 6th edition of Action Film Week: Wang Lee-Hom, Aamir Khan, Kit Harington, Dave Bautista, Michelle Rodriguez, Pom Klementieff, Jay Chou and Ethan Juan.
[…] Jackie Chan, along with other insiders, could advise the Academy, as he already launched his own Iron Man Award show for action cinema in 2015 and offers stunt camps for semi-professionals and actors at his […]