Marry My Dead Body (關於我和鬼變成家人的那件事), the film Taiwan submitted to the Oscars for best international feature, has won the Audience Award at the Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles.
In receiving the honor on Friday last week, the film became the first ever Taiwanese movie to win an award at the film festival, beating out entries from 14 other Asian countries to achieve the milestone.
The supernatural drama/mystery film, which was an instant hit in Taiwan after its release in February, tells the story of a marriage between a living and a dead person and covers a wide range of topics, including LGBTQ+ issues and police investigations into drug dealers.
Photo: CNA
“There’s deliberate uses of stereotypes in the movie, but as you follow the characters through their journeys, you will realize that we’re trying to tear down the labels and break down the stereotypes,” the film’s director, Cheng Wei-hao (程偉豪), said at the movie’s Asian World Film Festival premiere on Nov. 9.
“We’re all equal when it comes to love,” he said.
Executive producer Jin Bai-lun (金百倫) said at the premiere that the movie aims to portray the positive sides of the LGBTQ+ community, as past Taiwanese movies usually depicted the more oppressive side of the community.
First held nine years ago, the Asian World Film Festival serves as a promotion platform for movies representing Asian countries that have been submitted for consideration in the best international feature category at the Oscars.
According to Variety, 92 international films have been submitted for consideration for the international feature of the Oscars. A shortlist of the top 15 films is to be announced on Dec. 21 and the final nominees in the category are to be named on Jan. 23 next year.
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