Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards Unveils Nominations Amid China Tensions

Tom Grater

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The nominations for this year’s Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan were unveiled Tuesday, with no Chinese films in contention amid the political fallout from last year’s ceremony.

Now in their 56th year, the awards have traditionally been seen as among the most prestigious for Chinese-language film. But tension bubbled over last year after Taiwanese filmmaker Fu Yue said onstage during an acceptance speech that she hoped Taiwan could be regarded as “independent.”

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China classifies Taiwan as a renegade province rather than a separate country, and, according to various reports, authorities declared that China’s actors, directors and producers would not be allowed to submit to year’s Golden Horse Awards.

Instead, this year’s nominees list is largely composed of Taiwanese films, with a handful of features from Hong Kong and elsewhere also up for prizes. Taiwan’s Detention, John Hsu’s thriller, leads the pool with 12 noms including Best Narrative Feature, Best New Director, Best Leading Actress and Best New Performer. (See the full list of nominees below).

Winners will be announced at a ceremony set for November 23 at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.

After Detention, Mong-Hong Chung’s crime drama A Sun has the second-most noms with 11, including Best Narrative Feature, Best Director, Best Leading Actor (twice) and Actress, as well as Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Tom Lim’s romantic drama The Garden of Evening Mists, which is a co-pro between Malaysia and the UK, received nine nominations, including Best Narrative Feature, Best Director and Best Leading Actress.

The Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year prize will go to veteran sound engineer Tang Shiang-chu.

Hong Kong director Johnnie To was previously set to chair the jury of this year’s awards but stepped down last month, citing production obligations.

Here are the 2019 noms:

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE

A Sun
3 NG Film Co., Ltd.,MandarinVision Co., Ltd.,Eight Eight Nine Films Co., Ltd.,MirrorFiction Inc.,UNI Connect Broadcast Production Co., Ltd.

Suk Suk
New Voice Film Productions Limited

The Garden of Evening Mists
Astro Shaw Sdn. Bhd.,HBO Asia

Wet Season
Giraffe Pictures Pte. Ltd.

Detention
1 Production Film Co., Gamania Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., Truffe Holdings Limited, Lots Home Entertainment Co., Limited, Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao International Entertainment Co., Taichung Film Development Foundation, Kaohsiung Film Fund, Warner Bros. (F.E.) Inc. Taiwan Branch

BEST DIRECTOR

CHUNG Mong-hong
A Sun

Tom LIN Shu-yu
The Garden of Evening Mists

Anthony CHEN
Wet Season

CHANG Tso-chi
Synapses

Midi Z
Nina Wu

BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Tree Remembers
LAU Kek-huat
Hummingbird Production Co., Ltd.

Your Face
TSAI Ming-liang
Homegreen Films Co.,Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation

The Good Daughter
WU Yu-ying

Bamboo Theatre
CHEUK Cheung
Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District

Last Year When the Train Passed By
HUANG Pang-chuan
Le Fresnoy – National Studio for Contemporary Arts

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

No nominees

BEST LEADING ACTOR

WU Chien-ho
A Sun

CHEN Yi-wen
A Sun

CHEUNG Ka-nin
Suk Suk

Ben YUEN
Suk Suk

CHU Pak-hong
My Prince Edward

BEST LEADING ACTRESS

Samantha KO
A Sun

LEE Sinje
The Garden of Evening Mists

YEO Yann-yann
Wet Season

LU Hsueh-feng
Synapses

Gingle WANG
Detention

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

LIU Kuan-ting
A Sun

DUAN Chun-hao
We Are Champions

KOH Jia-ler
Wet Season

YANG Shi-bin
Wet Season

LI Ying-chuan
Synapses

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

YAO Yi-ti
The Gangs, The Oscars, and The Walking Dead

WEN Chen-ling
A Sun

Patra AU Ga-man
Suk Suk

LU Yi-ching
3 Days 2 Nights

Winnie CHANG
The Teacher

BEST NEW DIRECTOR

LAU Kek-huat, Vera CHEN
Boluomi

HUNG Tzu-hsuan
The Scoundrels

HSU Chia-kai
The Last Thieves

John HSU
Detention

WONG Yee-lam
My Prince Edward

BEST NEW PERFORMER

YUAN Teng
The Paradise

TSAI Jia-yin
Heavy Craving

Fandy FAN
We Are Champions

Oscar CHIU
The Teacher

TSENG Jing-hua
Detention

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

CHUNG Mong-hong, CHANG Yao-sheng
A Sun

Ray YEUNG
Suk Suk

YEO Siew-hua
A Land Imagined

Anthony CHEN
Wet Season

WU Ke-xi, Midi Z
Nina Wu

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

LAI Meng-jie, Neverland Entertainment Limited, LIU Hsueh-jung
Stand by Me

Richard SMITH
The Garden of Evening Mists

John HSU, FU Kai-ling, CHIEN Shih-keng
Detention

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

NAKASHIMA Nagao
A Sun

CHEN Ko-chin, CHEN Chih-hsuan
The Scoundrels

CHEN Tapu
We Are Champions

Kartik VIJAY
The Garden of Evening Mists

Florian J.E. ZINKE
Nina Wu

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Charles LEE, YEH Jen-hao
The Devil Fish

Wells TU
We Are Champions

Simple View Production Company
Synapses

Renovatio Pictures, Tomi KUO
Detention

Grass Jelly Studio, MoonShine VFX, The White Rabbit Entertainment, Inc.
Mayday Life

BEST ART DIRECTION

HSIAO Jen-chieh
Paradise Next

LAI Yung-kun
The Magnificent Bobita

Penny TSAI Pei-ling, LUM Heng-soon, CHEN Hsuan-shao
The Garden of Evening Mists

WANG Chih-cheng
Detention

KUO Chih-da
Nina Wu

BEST MAKEUP & COSTUME DESIGN

KAO Chia-lin
The Magnificent Bobita

Lore SHIH
The Gangs, The Oscars, and The Walking Dead

HSU Li-wen, LO Wan-yi
The Scoundrels

Nikki GOOLEY, Biby CHOW, Penny TSAI Pei-ling, Nina EDWARDS
The Garden of Evening Mists

Jelly CHUNG, CHAN Cheuk-ming
Nina Wu

BEST ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY

HUNG Shih-hao
The Scoundrels

HUNG Shih-hao, CHIA Fan
We Are Champions

Jimmy HUNG
Detention

Gino YANG
Mayday Life

BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE

SAKAMOTO Ryuichi
Your Face

TEO Wei-yong
A Land Imagined

Onn SAN
The Garden of Evening Mists

LU Luming
Detention

LIM Giong
Nina Wu

BEST ORIGINAL FILM SONG

“A Kind of Sorrow”
Lyricist: Gavin LIN; Composer: Alex CHANG-CHIEN; Performer: Lisang Pacidal Koyouan
More Than Blue

“Distant Journey”
Lyricist: CHUNG Mong-hong; Composer: LIN Sheng-xiang; Performer: LIN Sheng-xiang
A Sun

“The Day After Rain”
Lyricist: Summer LEI; Composer: LU Luming, Summer LEI; Performer: Summer LEI
Detention

“Nina Wu”
Lyricist: Sandee CHAN; Composer: Sandee CHAN; Performer: Sandee CHAN
Nina Wu

“My Prince Edward”
Lyricist: WONG Yee-lam; Composer: Eman LAM; Performer: Stephy TANG
My Prince Edward

BEST FILM EDITING

LAI Hsiu-hsiung
A Sun

Wenders LI, KAO Ming-sheng, LI Bin, Barfuss HUI
The Scoundrels

Daniel HUI
A Land Imagined

SOO Mun-thye
The Garden of Evening Mists

SHIEH Meng-ju
Detention

BEST SOUND EFFECTS

Narubett PEAMYAI, Sidney HU
The Scoundrels

R.T KAO, Aki CHEN
We Are Champions

Damien GUILLAUME, Gilles BENARDEAU
A Land Imagined

Dennis TSAO, Book CHIEN
Detention

LI Danfeng, CHOU Cheng, Morgan YEN
Nina Wu

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

Old Man and A Dog
Ryan CHAN Hon-yan

Liu A, Sing A, and Bi Hong
TSHUA Tsu-ting

Rebel boy
CHEN Yi-kai

3 Generations 3 Days
CHU Hoi-ying

Langit Budak Biru
LIM Kean-hian

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Hidden Zone
NG Chee-chong

My Father at Grandma’s Funeral
JHAN Bo-jyun

Gold Fish
Fish WANG

Adorable
CHUNG Cheng-hsu

The Lighthouse
Jay LEI Pui-weng

OUTSTANDING TAIWANESE FILMMAKER OF THE YEAR

TANG Shiang-chu

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

WANG Toon

Jimmy WANG Yu

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