_The epic drama ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’, which focuses on a group of individuals who volunteered to protect Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of China, received seven awards during the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday.

The film’s awards include best director, best film, best cinematography, best action choreography, and best supporting actor.

Nicholas Tse, the singer-cum-actor who played as a rickshaw puller and became a ‘bodyguard’ of Sun during his Hong Kong visit to talk about plans to end the Qing Dynasty during the 1900s, received the Best Supporting Actor award.

The low-budget drama ’Echoes of the Rainbow’, set in Hong Kong during the 1960s, was considered the annual awards’ second biggest winner after it received the Berlin International Film Festival’s Crystal Bear prize.

The film got four awards, which include best actor and best screenplay.

According to director Alex Law, he was thankful for several unexpected surprises the film had given him.

"My starting point was to make a film to remember my elder brother", said Law. It even helped protect a street from demolition”.

The director was talking about the decision of the Hong Kong government to stop a plan to demolish Wing Lee Street, the setting of the film, after the publicity made by the Berlin Award.

Simon Yam, who starred as the head of the struggling shoemaking family in the film ‘Echoes’, received the Best Actor award.

_Johnny Depp brings his new 3D film to all corners of the planet, this time in Japan.

Depp, who got pulses racing during his latest promotion of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, announced at a press conference that his Mad Hatter role in the movie was one of several original character roles.

"I haven't so far been in danger of repeating myself, at least I don't think so. They all feel quite different. I mean, there's so many possibilities out there. I just love watching people, stealing bits of their behavioural patterns", Depp said.

Joined by filmmaker Tim Burton, Depp arrived at Japan’s Narita International Airport where he was greeted by more than a thousand people who waited for him earlier in the day.

When he was asked about how he felt moviegoers would respond to his newest role, Depp stressed that the biggest duty of an actor is to entertain his viewers.

"One of your great responsibilities not only to the director, yourself, or the film but one of your great responsibilities is to try to do something different each time for the audience. Your great responsibility is to not bore your audience", he explained.

Tim Burton's ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is the latest in a series of 3D films such as ‘Avatar’ and features stars including Depp, Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, and Burton's girlfriend Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen.

_Sri Lanka is hosting the top movie personalities in India for this year’s ‘Bollywood Oscars’, featuring one of the most prolific and ambitious film industries in the world, said officials on Tuesday.

The three-day event organised by the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA), which starts on 3 June, will feature celebrity parties, fashion shows, premieres, as well as a Twenty20 cricket game.

The event will be culminated in the glamorous 11th annual awards ceremony in the largest sports stadium in Colombo, which according to the organisers will be attended by about 500 guests and witnessed by around 600 million television viewers in 110 countries.

"This is a very rare and wonderful opportunity for Sri Lanka. Thanks to the prevailing peace, Sri Lanka has received international recognition", said tourism bureau head Duleep Mudadeniya to reporters.

Amitabh Bachchan, brand ambassador of the IIFA, said he hopes that the decision of bringing the event to Colombo – which comes following the long civil war’s end in the island in 2009 – would urge alliance.

"It is not purely about films, it is also about business networking and cross-cultural exchange.

The awards, which started in 2000, are held annually outside India in order to increase the Bollywood films’ international profile.

According to Bachchan, the previous host cities of IIFA had since become famous settings for Indian movies.

"The potential to film in this part of the world (Sri Lanka) remains untapped, and this could change after IIFA", said Bachchan.

Actor Rip Torn is due to appear in court over allegations of breaking in a bank, armed with a gun inside his pocket.

The award-winning Hollywood star, who played Agent Zed along with Will Smith in the ‘Men In Black’ movie franchise, could face five charges, which include burglary in the first degree. If found guilty, the actor could be sentenced to a maximum of five-year imprisonment.

Torn, 79, who also appears in the US sitcom ’30 Rock’ that airs on NBC, was found on 29 January 2010 inside Litchfield BanCorp’s branch near his home after the bank’s alarm was activated.

Police reports claimed that he was taken into custody after a trooper named James Parker had "discovered that this individual was armed with a loaded revolver and highly intoxicated".

After a breathalyser test was carried out, police discovered that Torn was nearly three times over the allowed drink-drive limit.

Since the Oscar-nominated actor last appeared in court, he spent his time in a rehabilitation centre in New York.

According to A Thomas Waterfall, his lawyer, Torn was just perplexed and mistook the bank for his own home, which is completely different in colour and is located half a mile away.

The Dodgeball star has been known as a hellraiser, popularly attacking the late director and writer Norman Mailer with a hammer on the set of ‘Maidstone’ in 1970.

Also, Torn has been arrested quite a few times for drink-driving. He is due to appear at Litchfield Superior Court in Connecticut.

The powerhouse cast of the huge hit ‘Iron Man’ movie have joined forces once again for the highly anticipated sequel.

Director Jon Favreau and cast members Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwenyth Paltrow, and Scarlett Johansson all gathered in Los Angeles, California, during the weekend to discuss the follow-up to the film, based on Marvel Comics superhero of the same name.

Also part of the discussion was the reason why the story of Tony Stark and Iron Man, his alter ego, is still a major hit after almost 50 years since the characters’ first appearance in pop culture.

"I guess what I really appreciate is the guy has such power. He has such a great mind, and he kind of just wants to get along and get by and do right by himself in society", said Downey Jr., who plays the lead role.

‘Iron Man 2’ will pick up where the first instalment left off, with the fun-loving playboy Stark, who has inherited his father’s brain along with his corporate empire, announcing openly to the world that he is Iron Man.

With its matchless weapon capabilities, the ‘Iron Man suit’ has attracted the attention of the US government, which attempts to get a hold of it for military use.

Meanwhile, the acerbated son of a Russian scientist, who was wronged by Starks’s father, has his own plans, and uses stolen blueprints from the Stark Industry to develop a series of weapons designed for Iron Man’s demise.