The 38th Golden Rooster Awards ceremony was held in Xiamen, Fujian, China, from November 11 to November 15, 2025. It coincides with the 120th anniversary of Chinese cinema, featuring special forums, retrospectives, and cultural activities.
The 38th Golden Rooster Awards include 20 categories, covering Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor/ Actress, and technical achievements. A total of 212 eligible films were evaluated, with nominations based on works released between 1 July 2024, and 30 June 2025. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death and Her Story received the most nominations, with a total of seven.
Awards Feature awards
Best Picture Best Low-budget FeatureHer Story Big World The Lychee Road
Detective Chinatown 1900 The Last DanceFate of the Moonlight A Song Sung Blue The Town of Wulong Dreaming of Mother and Home A River Without Tears Best Children Film Best Drama Film Shining Youth: Air Relay No Shame The Boy in the Moonlight Goodbye, Firefly Bronze SunflowerDouble Butterfly Fan (Min Opera) Song of the Great Wind (Xi Opera) Yu Chenglong in Civilian Clothes (Jin Opera) Chongdu Ditch (Yu Opera) The Lucky Pearl Purse (Peking Opera) The River All Red (Peking Opera) Best Documentary/Educational Film Best Art/Animation FilmYour Voice On the Way to School Hometown Return She Is Hung Sin-nui Panda AdventureNe Zha 2 Endless Journey of Love Strange Tales of Liaozhai: Temple of Lanruo I Am What I Am 2 Boonie Bears: Future Reborn A Story About Fire The Reunion Journey Best Foreign Language Film Special Jury PrizeThere's Still Tomorrow (Italy) F1 (United States) Here (United States) I'm Still Here (Brazil, France) How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (Thailand)The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death
Individual awards Best Director Best Directorial Debut Chen Sicheng, Dai Mo – Detective Chinatown 1900 Da Peng – The Lychee Road Anselm Chan – The Last Dance Shao Yihui – Her Story Gu Changwei – The Hedgehog Gao Peng – A Long Shot Dajie Dingzeng – The Boy in the Moonlight Li Ji – Big Scene Qin Tian – Fate of the Moonlight Huang Tingting – Lucky Pavilion Best Writing Best Editing Anselm Chan, Cheng Wai-kei – The Last Dance Chen Kaige, Zhang Ke – The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death Shao Yihui – Her Story You Xiaoying – Big World Zhou Xinxia – Dreaming of Mother and Home Tang Hongjia – Detective Chinatown 1900 Li Dianshi – The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death William Chang, Curran Pang – The Last Dance Liao Ching-sung – Bronze Sunflower Best Actor Best Actress Jackson Yee – Big World as Liu Chunhe Da Peng – The Lychee Road as Li Shande Zhu Yilong – The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death as Li Xiang Liu Haoran – Decoded as Rong Jinzhen Huang Xiaoming – Mostly Sunny as Wu You Song Jia – Her Story as Wang Tiemei Michelle Wai – The Last Dance as Guo Wenyue Yong Mei – Like A Rolling Stone as Li Hong Duan Aojuan – The Lost Daughter as Liu Suisui Xu Haipeng – Fate of the Moonlight as Xia Chan Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress Ben Yuen – The Dumpling Queen as Uncle Sweet Soup Zhou Zhengjie – A Long Shot as Geng Xiaojun Mark Chao – Her Story as Ex-husband Geng Le – The Hedgehog as Zhou Zheng's Father Zhong Chuxi – Her Story as Xiao Ye Song Xiaoying – Dreaming of Mother and Home as Zheng Danzhu Huang Ziqi – A Song Sung Blue as Jin Mingmei Jiang Qinqin – Big World as Chen Lu Kara Wai – The Dumpling Queen as Sister Hong Best Cinematography Best Sound Recording Zhao Fei – The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death Wang Boxue – The Lychee Road Zhang Xing – Tide Cao Yu – Decoded Bao Dexi, Cai Wenlong, Zhou Zhihui, Ye Zhen – Operation Hadal Wang Danrong – The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death Li Danfeng, Si Zhonglin – Big World Zhang Jinyan, Long Xiaozhu – Her Story Hao Gang – The Hedgehog Fu Kang – A Long Shot Best Art Direction Best Music Han Zhong, Ma Xiaofei – Decoded Wang Jing – The Lychee Road Liu Shan – The Panorama of Rivers and Mountains Lu Wei – The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death Zhuo Wenyao, Zhou Defu – Operation Hadal Zhai Jinyan – The Lychee Road Lv Liang – The Panorama of Rivers and Mountains Li He – The Silent Love Chen Guangrong, Li Minglang – Dumpling Queen Gao Xiaoyang – A Long Shot Lifetime Achievement
References