Giving an example, the director admitted that she once failed to hold back her tears while watching a scene featuring Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, where he breaks up with his girlfriend Lois Lane in the 1978 Hollywood blockbuster Superman.

"To humanize a character is a must," she added.

Meanwhile, three films - Operation Red Sea, Wolf Warrior 2 and Xuanzang, the biographical drama about the titular Buddhist monk in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) - won two awards each.

Dante Lam Chiu-yin won best director for the Chinese navy-themed Operation Red Sea; while Wu Jing was best actor for Wolf Warrior 2, the country's highest-grossing film of all time.

The biennial awards, instituted in 1957, are as prestigious as the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers when it comes to domestic films.

However, unlike its two counterparts, the Huabiao best feature awards are presented to multiple films under a category called the Outstanding Drama Award.

This year, the awards were given to 10 films, including the four which won more than one prize.