Films from China about the COVID-19 pandemic and a gay romance won major prizes on Saturday at the 61st Golden Horse Awards, which had the highest number of entries from China in the past few years despite political tensions.
Beijing banned its entertainers from attending the Golden Horse Awards — dubbed the Chinese-language Oscars — in 2019 after a Taiwanese director voiced support for Taiwanese independence in an acceptance speech in 2018.
Despite the sensitivity of the awards, more than 200 Chinese films entered this year’s competition, which the Mainland Affairs Council said was the highest number in the past few years.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye (婁燁) was awarded best director for his docudrama An Unfinished Film (一部未完成的電影), which also won Best Narrative Feature.
Lou was absent from the ceremony, but his wife, Ma Yingli (馬英力), read his acceptance speech, describing the film set during China’s lockdown of Wuhan in the earliest stages of the pandemic as “the most special directing job I have ever done.”
Meanwhile the black-and-white gay drama Bel Ami (漂亮朋友) by Chinese director Geng Jun (耿軍), produced in France, won Best Leading Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing awards.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
While same sex relations are not illegal in China, same sex marriage is not recognized, and the Chinese government has been cracking down on activists and depictions of LGBTQ+ people in the media.
Best Leading Actor winner Zhang Zhiyong (張志勇) was absent from the awards ceremony due to prior work engagements. His prepared statement was read by Geng.
Neither Bel Ami nor An Unfinished Film has been released in China.
Despite political tensions, the Golden Horse Awards remained a stage for independent Chinese films that have no distribution space in China, film critic Wonder Weng (翁煌德) said.
“This spirit remains unchanged. I think the Golden Horse Awards have always insisted on being the benchmark” that is open to all subjects, said Weng, who is a board member of the Taiwan Film Critics Society.
Other award winners on Saturday included Hong Kong actress Chung Suet-ying (鍾雪瑩), who was crowned Best Leading Actress for her role in the drama The Way We Talk (看我今天怎麼說), a film about love, friendship and the struggles of deaf people.
Veteran actress Cheng Pei-pei (鄭佩佩), known as the “queen of martial arts films” in Chinese-language cinema, and cinematographer Lin Wen-chin (林文錦), a local pioneer in Taiwanese-language cinema, received lifetime achievement awards.
While Lin was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award, Cheng was honored with the posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award, the second of its kind at the prestigious annual event.
Cheng was a pioneer for women in action films. Her breakout role in the wuxia (武俠) genre was as Golden Swallow in King Hu’s (胡金銓) Come Drink with Me (大醉俠) in 1966, which is still regarded as a monumental work in the history of martial arts in Chinese cinema.
During her six-decade career, Cheng starred in more than 110 movies and 50 TV series, reinventing herself twice along the way.
Her second peak came in 2000 with a return to drama in her role as Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) directed by Ang Lee (李安), which won her Best Supporting Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Lee was also the presenter of Cheng’s posthumous award to her children, including actresses Marsha Yuan (原子鏸) and Eugenia Yuan (原麗淇).
Lin is the fourth consecutive cinematographer to receive the Golden Horse Lifetime Achievement Award since 2021.
Taiwan’s blockbuster comedy filmmaker Kevin Chu (朱延平) introduced the 91-year-old.
When he took the stage, Lin joked about his age during his acceptance speech.
“When I was young, I could carry a 60kg camera outdoors easily,” he said. “I am now older, and this [the award] feels very heavy.”
Lin serenaded the audience with a short song expressing his gratitude to all the filmmakers and movie lovers whose efforts he said have kept the Golden Horse Awards alive for the past 61 years.
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