The 57th Golden Horse Awards Ceremony was staged at National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Nov. 21 in Taipei City, honoring a selection of the finest Chinese language films from the past 12 months.
Organized by Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee and chaired by Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, the event attracted industry heavyweights from home and abroad. The time-honored awards established in 1962 are widely considered the most prestigious in the world of Chinese language cinema.
Locally made “My Missing Valentine” was the biggest winner of the night, bagging five awards for best director, film editing, narrative feature, original screenplay and visual effects.
The 119-minute romantic comedy follows the journey of a postal clerk who is looking forward to her dream date on Valentine’s Day but wakes up to find that the day has somehow already passed.
History was made as 81-year-old Chen Shu-fang took home both leading and supporting actress awards for her performances in “Little Big Women” and “Dear Tenant,” respectively. This year marked the first time during her six-decade acting career that Chen was nominated for the coveted awards.
Another highlight of the event was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award by renowned Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda to Hou Hsiao-hsien. Koreeda lauded the Taiwan filmmaker as an inspiration and said he was deeply honored to introduce Hou at the ceremony, willingly undergoing a 14-day quarantine in order to do so.
Hou won his first Golden Horse for best director in 1989 with “A City of Sadness,” which became the first motion picture from Taiwan to win a Golden Lion at Italy-based Venice Film Festival earlier the same year. The 73-year-old has gone on to win numerous accolades, including best director at France-based Cannes Film Festival in 2015 for “The Assassin.” (SFC-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw