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.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
RSS