The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday said it hopes the spirit of cinematic freedom would be respected, after Hong Kong joined China in boycotting the Golden Horse Awards.
The Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association reportedly sent an e-mail to its members on Tuesday instructing them to “think twice” before participating in the 59th annual awards, which are to be held in Taipei on Nov. 19.
The move follows years of boycotts by the China Film Administration, which in 2019 banned Chinese from participating in the event.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
In the letter, the group references the “gradual politicization” of the event, known locally as the Oscars of the Chinese-speaking world.
“Many Taiwanese directors and artists have repeatedly made comments that have nothing to do with the art of filmmaking, mixing politics with cinema and tainting independent artistry,” the message said. “This has dragged the entire event down a controversial path.”
Industry members should think twice before attending “to avoid getting involved in unnecessary disputes and losing more than you gain,” it added.
Asked about the issue on Wednesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) told a routine news conference that China “has always enthusiastically supported” activities that promote mutual understanding and recognition across the Taiwan Strait.
“As for those events with political overtones, that is another matter,” she said.
MAC spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday said that the Golden Horse Awards respect artistic freedom and serve as a badge of honor for those working in the Chinese-language film industry.
“We hope that the liberal environment and spirit of filmmaking can be respected, and we will always welcome excellent films with open arms,” he added.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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