Chinese director Zhang Yimou has been crowned Best Director at the U.S. Film Critics Awards for his two martial-arts epics, Hero and House of Flying Daggers.

The awards are often seen as a good guide to the list of potential nominees for Oscars, so Zhang Yimou may become the first Chinese director nominated for an Oscar.

The U.S. National Society of Film Critics picked Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" as the best film of 2004.

Jamie Foxx was named best actor for two roles, soul singing legend Ray Charles in the biopic Ray, and a taxi driver who is held hostage by a murderer in Collateral.

Source: CRI