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.
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