Historical drama series Seqalu: Formosa 1867 (斯卡羅) took home four prizes, including the award for Best Television Series, at the 57th Golden Bell Awards in Taipei on Saturday.
Seqalu: Formosa 1867, which received 13 nominations, also won Best Newcomer in a Television Series, Best Lighting for a Drama Series and Best Visual Effects for a Drama Series at the prestigious annual awards ceremony at the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall.
Judges praised the series as an epic drama with a distinct style that showcases conflict and reconciliation between Taiwan’s different historical ethnic groups.
Photo: CNA
The costumes and props truly recreated history while taking the imagery of Taiwanese dramas to new heights, the judges said.
The series, adapted from Chen Yao-chang’s (陳耀昌) 2016 novel Lady Butterfly of Formosa (傀儡花), has been aired on Public Television Service (PTS) and several streaming services such as Line TV and Netflix since August last year.
The novel and drama are based on an incident in March 1867, when US merchant vessel the Rover was shipwrecked off the coast of southern Taiwan.
Although survivors made it to shore, they were killed by the local indigenous people. This led to conflict among different ethnic communities in the area and ultimately military action by US and Chinese forces.
Tsao Jui-yuan (曹瑞原), who directed the series, said in his acceptance speech that when one does not expect to be in a situation where one might attain the highest acclaim that it suddenly occurs.
“I believe the jury was very brave in giving the award to Seqalu, because all of the other TV series were too good,” Tsao said. “I cannot call them competitors, as we are part of a community and we are all creating tonight’s excitement.”
David Chuang (莊絢維) and Allen Chen (陳冠仲) won Best Directing for a Television Series for the crime thriller Danger Zone (逆局).
The series, from Chinese online video platform iQiyi, is about a police captain, played by Singapore-based Malaysian actor Christopher Lee (李銘順), who works with a profiling expert to solve a series of murders.
Lee won Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series for Danger Zone.
Best Leading Actor in a Television Series went to Taiwanese opera actress Chen Ya-lan (陳亞蘭) for her role as a male in Lord Jiaqing and The Journey to Taiwan (嘉慶君遊臺灣). She is the first woman to have ever won the award.
During her acceptance speech, Chen said she has dedicated herself to Taiwanese opera and credited her mentor, Yang Li-hua (楊麗花), for paving the way for actresses to take on male roles and lead serialized Taiwanese opera on TV.
Hsieh Ying-hsuan (謝盈萱) won Best Leading Actress in a Television Series for the melodrama Heaven on the 4th Floor (四樓的天堂), while Sophia Li (李杏) was awarded Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series for the historical drama Gold Leaf (茶金).
The 30-minute short Do Not Go Gentle in Taipei (台北過手無暝無日) won Best Television Film and fantasy drama Twisted Strings (良辰吉時) took the Best Miniseries award.
This year’s awards were handed out over two nights, with the awards for non-drama programs announced on Friday.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS