China's Huading Film Award ceremony was held for the first time in the USA on June 1.

The award is not well-known in the USA but is famous in China for naming the best in both Chinese and Western movies. It's not exactly China's equivalent of the Academy Awards, at least not yet.

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Winners at the Huading were chosen by 80 million members of the Chinese public that participated in surveys and Internet polling, said Beijing-based Global Talents Media Group, which has organized the annual awards event since 2007.

Don Mischer, the executive producer of the award ceremony held at the Montalban Theater in San Francisco, said this was only the beginning and he looks forward to future collaborations between the US and China, the world's two top film markets.

"I view this whole thing as kind of a first step, almost like a baby step," Mischer said.

"There's much more of a cooperative exchange going on now between the cinematic communities in China and those in the United States ... This thing could catch on and it could really build into something more significant because you've got the two largest movie markets in the world here."

In 2013, 11 of the 20 top grossing movies in China were made in Hollywood. China's market for movies grew at a huge 35 per cent last year.

Among western stars, Halle Berry won the top honor at Huading, the Global Icon Award.

"No one is ready to receive a global icon award," said Berry.

She said she was "happy for the better interpersonal relationship" between the Chinese public and Hollywood stars.

"I hope that I will continue to be able to make movies and entertain the Chinese audience and I'm so glad that we get to have an interpersonal relationship with all of you."

Mexico's Guillermo del Toro won the top director award for his movie Pacific Rim in which Asian cities and actors are prominent.

"China was very important to me as a kid. It captured my imagination with its landscapes," Del Toro said as he accepted his award.

He also expressed an interest in maintaining a cinematic partnership with China and expressed his gratitude to the "vast and loving" Chinese audience.

"As long as our partnership is one where we find common ground and we admire and learn from our differences, I think it could be incredibly enriching," he said.

Chinese voters chose last year's Fast and Furious 6 starring Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker, as the Best Global Movie of the Year.

Jordana Brewster and Tyrese Gibson accepted the award on behalf Fast and Furious 6.. Both noted a change in the atmosphere on the set of the franchise's seventh film following the death of co-star Paul Walker.

"It's really hard for all of us to genuinely celebrate on the level that we all should be expected to because we didn't do any of this without our brother and friend Paul Walker," Gibson said. "Moments like this become bittersweet."

Orlando Bloom won the Best Global Movie Star award for his roles in hits such as The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Lord of the Rings and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Bloom said he was honored to win Huading's global actor icon award. He also expressed how "humbled" he felt saying, "I never thought I'd make films all over the world."

Jeremy Renner won the Best Global Supporting Actor award for his role in American Hustle. Briton Charlie Hunnam won the award for Best Global Emerging Actor for his role as Jackson "Jax" Teller in the TV motorcycle gang series, Sons of Anarchy.

Chinese viewers chose The Croods as the Best Global Animated Movie. DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg was on hand to accept the award on behalf of The Croods.

He later discussed DreamWorks' entertainment complex to be built in Shanghai and the eagerly anticipated third installment of the Kung Fu Panda series to premiere in December 2015.

Chinese voters also honored German film composer Hans Zimmer for his lifetime achievements that that include composing music for dozens of movies such as The Lion King, Sherlock Holmes and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Tagshollywood, Huading, film, Montalban theater, Fast and Furious, Paul Walker, Best Global Movie, Halle Berry, Pacific Rim, Orlando Bloom, winners