“Stonewalling” wins best film at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan

Drama set in China Stone wallsDirected by husband-and-wife team Ryuji Otsuka and Huang Ji, the film won the award for Best Narrative Film at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, which is being held for the 60th time this year.

The film, which opened in Venice and won best film at the Hong Kong Film Festival’s Young Cinema Competition, is about a young woman in mainland China who struggles with issues surrounding her career, relationships, health and fertility. It also won the award for best editing, shared by Otsuka and Taiwan’s Liao Ching-sung, with the latter winning his first Golden Horse award after twelve nominations spanning four decades.

The awards were divided equally among the nominated films. Taiwan’s Wu Kang-ren won Best Actor for his role as a deaf mute in the Malaysian drama Abang Adik. 12-year-old Audrey Lin won best actress for her role Problems girlsThis makes her the youngest winner of the Best Actress category at the Golden Horse Awards.

Best Director went to Hsiao Ya-chuan old foxIt was his first Golden Horse Award, while Hong Kong filmmaker Nick Cheuk won Best New Director Time is still turning the pages.

old fox was a multiple award winner and also won Best Supporting Actor for Akio Chen’s performance, Best Makeup and Costume Design, and Best Original Score. Best Supporting Actress at Beatrice Fang for Day offwhich also won Best Original Film Song (see the full list of winners below).

Ang Lee, chairman of the jury of this year’s Golden Horse Awards, presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to famous Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin. Veteran cinematographer Chen Kun-hou also received a Lifetime Achievement Award, while producer Lin Shih-ken (The brave, the corrupt and the beautiful) was named Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year.

The presenters of the Star Awards also included the Japanese Takeshi Kitano and the actor Koji Yakusho (Perfect days), Chang Chen (dune) and Satoshi Tsumabuki (The killer). Yakusho and Kitano both gave masterclasses at the Golden Horse Film Festival earlier this week.

The Taiwan Golden Horse Awards is considered the most prestigious award ceremony for Chinese-language film from across East Asia. However, the ceremony has been boycotted by mainland China since 2018, when the Best Documentary Film winner referred to Taiwan’s independence in her acceptance speech (Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province from China rather than a separate country).

Since then, very few films from mainland China have entered the awards, while Hong Kong filmmakers have faced similar pressure and only entered the competitions if they did not seek any form of distribution in China.

This year’s nominees included films shot in China or with a connection to the mainland, but which do not claim Chinese nationality. Winner of Best Narrative Film Stone walls was filmed in China but is considered a Japanese production.

This year’s ceremony passed without controversy, although young filmmaker Ho Sze-wai mentioned freedom of expression when accepting the award for best live-action short film Before emptying the box, on the Hong Kong diaspora: “I hope that people from Hong Kong can be braver in telling their own stories. We need to capture how people in Hong Kong really live.”

The 60th edition of the Golden Horse Awards took place on 25 November at Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei City.

60th Golden Horse Awards Full List of Winners:

Best Director – HSIAO Ya-chuan, old fox

Best Actor – WU Kang-ren, Abang Adik

Best Actress – Audrey LIN, Trouble, girls

Best Supporting Actor – Akio CHEN, old fox

Best Supporting Actress – Beatrice FANG, Day off

Best New Director – Nick CHEUK, Time is still turning the pages

Best New Artist: TSE Wing-yan, fly me to the moon

Best Original Screenplay – SUN Jie, The mountain is coming

Best Adapted Screenplay – WU Chin-jung, CHENG Wei-hao, Marry my dead body

Best Cinematography – YU Jing-pin, Fishing memories

Best Visual Effects – ArChin YEN, The eye of the storm

Best Art Direction – HUANG Mei-ching, TU Shuo-feng, The eye of the storm

Best Makeup and Costume Design – WANG Chih-cheng, Shirley KAO, old fox

Best Film Editing – LIAO Ching-sung, OTSUKA Ryuji, Stone walls

Best Sound Effects – TU Duu-chih, WU Shu-yao, CHEN Kuan-ting, Snow in midsummerR

Best Original Motion Picture Score – Chris HOU, old fox

Best Original Motion Picture Song – “The Usual,” Day off

Best Action Choreography – HUNG Shih-hao, The pig, the snake and the dove

Best Live Action Short Film – Before emptying the boxDirected by HO Sze-wai

Best Animated Film – piggyDirector: CHIU Li-wei

Best Documentary – youth (Spring), Directed by WANG Bing

Best Animated Short Film – Monsoon blueDirector: Ellis CHAN Ka-yin, WONG Hiu-kit

Best Documentary Short – The memoDirector: Badlands Film Group