After his arthouse hit I Am Not Madame Bovary took home the highest prize at the China Film Directors' Guild Awards last year, Feng Xiaogang has again become the favorite at this year's event.

As a top honor for Chinese filmmakers, the guild's annual awards have been running since 2005. For its latest and ninth edition, the guild released its shortlist of nominations across five categories in Beijing on March 22. Prestigious filmmaker Han Sanping won the annual achievement award.

Feng's directorial hit Youth, a nostalgic tale centering on a Chinese military art troupe that bagged the nominations for best picture, director, actor and actress, has come out as a front-runner for the awards this year.

Also with nominations for best picture, director, actress and a comparatively lighter-weight entry for best scriptwriter, director Vivian Qu's drama Angels Wear White follows a close second. The story about two schoolgirls being sexually assaulted by a middle-aged man won Qu the award for best director at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards in 2017.

Following closely behind are Taiwan actress-director Sylvia Chang's Love Education, and Zhou Ziyang's directorial debut Old Beast, which both picked up three nominations.