Actress Hu Ling (胡伶) on Saturday became the first Chinese movie star to walk the red carpet of the Golden Horse Awards since 2019, when China boycotted Taiwan’s biggest awards show over political tensions.
Beijing banned its entertainers from joining the awards, dubbed the Chinese-language Oscars, after documentary director Fu Yu (傅榆) voiced support for Taiwan’s formal independence in an acceptance speech in 2018.
There were no films from China in the 2019 nomination list and several Hong Kong movies dropped out that year, while several big commercial productions were conspicuously absent at both the 2020 and 2021 awards.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
However, Hu, nominated for best actress in the education drama Carp Leaping Over Dragon’s Gate (菠蘿，鳳梨), on Saturday showed up in a shimmering gown holding a pineapple in her hands, as she was accompanied by Chinese film director Yan Xiaolin (閆嘯林) — who was nominated for best original screenplay — and some of the film’s cast.
“Our film’s [Chinese] name is ‘Pineapple’ and Taiwan’s audiences have told me that pineapple means good luck” in Taiwanese culture, Hu said in a brief televised interview.
Meanwhile, Chinese director Huang Ji (黃驥) also walked the red carpet with her Japanese husband, Ryuji Otsuka, as the social drama Stonewalling (石門) they co-directed got four nods, including Best Film and Best Director.
Chinese director Huang Shuli (黃樹立) collected the Best Documentary Short Film award in person last year — a rare appearance by a Chinese filmmaker since the fallout.
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