‘Coo-Coo 043’ and ‘Limbo’ Big Winners at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Awards

Patrick Frater
·3 min read

“Coo-Coo 043,” a Taiwan family drama set against the backdrop of pigeon racing, was named the best film on Saturday at the Golden Horse Film Awards. Hong Kong-made crime thriller “Limbo” won four awards, making it the numerical winner.

“Coo-Coo 043,” which was directed by Chang Chin-lin and picked up 13 nominations, also won the best new performer award for Hu Jhih-ciang. A day earlier, the film also picked up the Golden Horse Film Festival’s FIPRESCI prize.

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“Limbo,” directed by Soi Cheang, amassed 14 nominations. At the award ceremony in Taipei it won in the best adapted screenplay, cinematography, visual effects and art direction categories. A day before the ceremony, “Limbo” also picked up the Golden Horse festival’s audience choice award.

Other titles that earned multiple GHFA prizes included: “The Sunny Side of the Street” with three wins (Anthony Wong as best actor and Malaysia’s Lau Kok-roi for both best new director and best original screenplay) from six nominations; “Incantation” with two wins (film editing and sound effects) from 13 nominations; and “Gaga,” with two wins (Lana Mebow as best director and Kagaw Piling as best supporting actress) from six nominations.

The Golden Horse Film Awards were established in 1962 and are considered the most prestigious prizes for Chinese-language films. However, there was again controversy before this year’s ceremony as mainland Chinese authorities maintain a boycott of the awards and have instead promoted their own Golden Rooster awards, held a week earlier in Xiamen, instead.

In a move to fall in line with mainland policy, the Hong Kong Film Producers Association sent a letter to its members urging that they too boycott the Golden Horse events. Surprisingly perhaps, that directive was ignored by “Limbo,” “The Narrow Road,” “A Light Never Goes Out,” “Far Far Away,” “The Sunny Side of the Street” and documentary “Blue Island.” Anthony Wong is reported to have been blacklisted by mainland authorities and has taken some steps that would allow him to move to Taiwan for the long term.

Chinese director Huang Shuli’s documentary short film Will you Look at Me was the only work from the mainland that won a prize on Saturday. Huang was on hand in person to collect his award. Earlier this year the piece won the Queer Palm at the Cannes film festival.

2022 Golden Horse Film Awards


Best narrative feature: “Coo-Coo 043” dir.
Best documentary feature: “And Miles to go Before I Sleep” dir Tsai Tsung-lung.
Best live action short: “Can You Hear Me?” dir. Li Nien-hsu.
Best documentary short: “Will You Look at Me” dir. Huang Shuli.
Best animated short: “Compound Eyes of Tropical” dir. Zhang Xu Zhan.
Best director: Laha Mebow for “Gaga”.
Best leading actor: Anthony Wong for “The Sunny Side of the Street”.
Best leading actress: Sylvia Chang for “A Light Never Goes Out”.
Best supporting actor: Berant Zhu for “Bad Education”.
Best supporting actress: Kagaw Piling for “Gaga”.
Best new director: Lau Kok-rui for “The Sunny Side of the Street”.
Best new performer: Hu Jhih-ciang for “Coo-Coo 043”.
Best original screenplay: Lau Kok-rui for “The Sunny Side of the Street”.
Best adapted screenplay: Au Kin-yee, Shum Kwan-sin for “Limbo”.
Best cinematography: Cheng Siu-keung for “Limbo”.
Best visual effects: Garrett Lam, Ho Man-lok, Diu King-wai for “Limbo”.
Best art direction: Mak Kwok-keung, Renee Wong for “Limbo”.
Best makeup and costume design: Ken Fan, Chen You-feng for “Demigod: The Legend Begins”.
Best action choreography: Sheu Fang-yi for “Salute”.
Best original score: Wong Hin-yang for “The Narrow Road”.
Best original song: Lyrics, composer, performer Eric Chou for “My Best Friend’s Breakfast” in “What’s On Your Mind”
Best film editing: Kevin Ko for “Incantation”
Best sound effects: R.T Kao, Rockid Lee, Richard Hocks, Nusorn Thongkhum for “Incantation”.
Outstanding Taiwanese filmmaker of the year: Chen Ming-ze.
Lifetime achievement award (s): Lai Cheng-ying, Chang Chao-tang.

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