Family drama The Falls (瀑布) on Saturday claimed four Golden Horse Awards, including the most prestigious prize in the Best Narrative Feature category.
Nominated in 11 categories, The Falls also won Best Leading Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Film Score, making it the night’s biggest winner.
The movie is centered around a mother and her teenage daughter. It tells how the mother’s mental illness affects their relationship as they quarantine together during a COVID-19 outbreak.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
The Falls has been selected as Taiwan’s entry in the best International Feature Film category at next year’s Academy Awards.
Accepting the award, director Chung Mong-hong (鍾孟宏) said: “This award tells me that I can continue to make movies next year, the year after and again the year after. I want to keep making movies each and every year.”
Alyssa Chia (賈靜雯) won the Best Leading Actress prize for her role as the mother.
Meanwhile, Chang Chen (張震) won in the Best Leading Actor category for his portrayal of a prosecutor who tackles a high-profile murder case while also battling cancer in the neo-noir science-fiction film The Soul (緝魂).
Tying The Falls’ 11 nominations, The Soul took home two more awards, for Best Art Direction and Best Film Editing.
Till We Meet Again (月老) and American Girl (美國女孩) also won three awards each.
Till We Meet Again, which was also nominated for 11 prizes, won in the Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Effects and Best Makeup and Costume Design categories.
American Girl, which was nominated in seven categories, won the awards for Best New Director, Best New Performer and Best Cinematography.
Drifting (濁水漂流), beating all other films with 12 nominations, only won one award, in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.
Clara Law (羅卓瑤) was awarded the Best Director best director prize, her first Golden Horse after being nominated seven times.
The jury praised Law for using a “poetic” way to examine history and reality in her film Drifting Petals (花果飄零), saying that the film showcased her talent and vision.
The Macau-born Hong Kong-raised director who lives in Australia did not attend the ceremony, but asked Lin Lai (黎卓玲), one of the actresses in her film, to accept the award on her behalf.
The annual Golden Horse awards, established in 1962, are considered among the most prestigious and time-honored film awards in the world of Chinese-language cinema.
Beijing has boycotted the awards since 2019, resulting in many Chinese and Hong Kong filmmakers staying away.
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