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‘My Missing Valentine’ Tops Golden Horse Awards

Vivienne Chow
·3-min read

“My Missing Valentine,” a fantasy comedy drama directed by Chen Yu-hsun, won the top prize at the 57th edition of Golden Horse Awards. It collected four further prizes, including best director and best screenplay on Saturday at an in-person ceremony in Taipei.

Best actress and best supporting actress awards both went to the 81-year-old veteran Chen Shu-fang for her performances in “Little Big Women” and “Dear Tenant” respectively. The emotional Chen said this was her first time walking the red carpet to attend the awards ceremony and she had not expected to go on stage twice in one night.

Chen’s “Dear Tenant” co-star Mo Tzu-yi won his first Golden Horse best actor for his performance in the unusual family drama, in which he plays a character looking after the relatives of his deceased boyfriend.

While many film festivals and market events around the world have been suspended or switched online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Golden Horse Film Festival, along with the awards and the Taiwan Creative Content Fest, have managed to take place in physical form. Ang Lee, chair of the Golden Horse awards, said this year’s festival and awards ceremony could be held as usual because Taiwan has successfully contained the COVID-19 pandemic.

The awards have long been regarded as the peak achievement in Chinese-language cinema. But for the second year they have been without most mainland Chinese and Hong Kong films because of a boycott sparked by a winner’s political speech in 2018.

Nevertheless, a handful of independent projects from Hong Kong still participated in this year’s awards. Felix Tsang and Kiwi Chow’s script for romantic drama “Beyond the Dream” was awarded best adapted screenplay. Hong Kong filmmaker Jill Li’s first feature-length film “Lost Course,” which follows the 2011 Wukan protests in mainland China, won the best documentary award.

Kwok Zune, one of the directors of “Ten Years,” won best live action short with “Night Is Young,” which centers around the 2019 Hong Kong protests. He dedicated the award to Hongkongers and the 12 young people who have been caught and detained by mainland police while they fled to Taiwan by boat.

The 73-year-old Taiwan auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien accepted the lifetime achievement award from an ensemble of heavyweights, including the Cannes-winning Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda. “Without all of you, I could never have made these films,” Hou told the crowd in a standing ovation.

The evening also paid tribute to filmmakers and industry practitioners who have died, including actor Godfrey Gao, who died shooting a reality TV show in mainland China, and entertainer Alien Huang.

Taipei Golden Horse Awards 2020 Winners
Best film
“My Missing Valentine”

Best director
Chen Yu-hsun for “My Missing Valentine”

Best actor
Mo Tzu-yi in “Dear Tenant”

Best actress
Chen Shu-fang in “Little Big Women”

Best supporting actor
Nadow Lin in “Classmates Minus”

Best supporting actress
Chen Shu-fang in “Dear Tenant”

Best new performer
Chen Yan-fei in “The Silent Forest”

Best original screenplay
Chen Yu-hsun for “My Missing Valentine”

Best adapted screenplay
Felix Tsang, Kiwi Chow for “Beyond the Dream”

Best new director
Chong Keat-aun for “The Story of Southern Islet”

Best documentary
“Lost Course”

Best animated feature
“City of Lost Things”

Best live action short
“Night is Young”

Best animated short
“Night Bus”

Best cinematography
Yao Hung-i for “Your Name Engraved Herein”

Best editing
Lai Hsiu-hsiung for “My Missing Valentine”

Best visual effects
Tomi Kuo for “My Missing Valentine”

Best art direction
Chao Shih-hao for “Classmates Minus”

Best makeup and costume design
Raymond Kuek, Azni Samdin for “Number 1”

Best action choreography
Teddy Ray Huang, Li Shao-peng for “Get the Hell Out”

Best original film score
Fran Chen for “Dear Tenant”

Best original film song
“Your Name Engraved Herein”

Best sound effects
Kuo Li-chi, Lee Dong-hwan for “The Silent Forest”

Lifetime achievement award
Hou Hsiao-hsien

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