Hong Kong kungfu drama to compete for Oscar

Wong Kar-wai's kungfu drama The Grand Master has become Hong Kong's candidate to compete for the best foreign-language film at the 86th Academy Awards.

The Hong Kong Federation of Motion Film Producers announced today that the film on Ip Man, the late Wing Chun master and mentor of Bruce Lee, will compete for the award, the winner of which will be announced on March 2, 2014.

The Grand Master premiered in China on Jan 8 and grossed $49 million domestically.

Taiwan has selected Soul, a thriller by art house director Chung Mong-hong, as its candidate.

The mainland has not yet decided its submission. However, popular choices include Feng Xiaogang's movie Back to 1942 on a famine that killed 3 million people 71 years ago, Wang Quan'an's Apart Together about the reunion between a Taiwan veteran and his Shanghai wife, and Wang Jing's Feng Shui about a young mother's life struggles.

The only Chinese film to win best foreign-language film at the Oscars was Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001. Zhang Yimou's martial arts epic Hero was nominated in 2003 but lost to the German film Nowhere in Africa.