The highly regarded film The Go Master directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang (田壯壯) and starring prominent actor Chang Chen (張震), who was nominated for Best Leading Actor, was taken out of the running for failing to register correctly as a joint China-Taiwan production. Regarded as a solely Chinese production, it was excluded from the competition part of the Golden Horse.
Chang's withdrawal from the Best Actor contention seriously damaged Taiwan's chances in the competition, in which Hong Kong productions dominate.
Feng Xiaogang's (馮小剛) sumptuous historical drama The Banquet (夜宴) brought internationally acclaimed art director Tim Yip (葉錦添) double glory as he walked away with Best Art Direction and Best Make up and Costume Design for the film 13 years after Yip's previous Golden Horse award.
Nominated for musical categories six times, local record producer Lin Giong (林強) picked up his third Best Original Film score for Do Over (一年之初) by promising local young filmmaker Cheng Yu-chieh (鄭有傑).
A composed award-receiver, Lin said the honor is an encouragement to local musicians who work with limited funding. "Unlike big-budget films from Hong Kong and China, local young directors don't have enough money for music production. And the award proves that we can still create great music with a small budget," he said.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Taiwanese-language cinema this year, a Golden Horse special award for lifetime achievement was given to Chen Tzu-fu (陳子福). The 80-year-old artist has dedicated his life to painting and restoring hand-painted movie billboards.
Often criticized as a consolation prize for local cinema, the Best Taiwan Film Professional of the Year and the Best Taiwan Film of the Year awards, this year renamed the Formoz Film Award and the Formoz Filmmaker Award, now have looser nomination criteria to spur competition.
Veteran film professionals dominated the technical categories. Peter Pau (鮑德熹) won his first Best Cinematography after repeated nominations while Tu Du-chi (杜篤之) picked up his fifth Best Sound Effects for Amour-Legende (松鼠自殺事件).
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