Golden Horse Nominations for 2024
Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 12:13PM
NATHANIEL R in All Shall Be Well, Asian cinema, Bel Ami, Chang Chen, Cheng Pei-pei, Dead Talents Society, Golden Horse Awards, Lou Ye, Oscars (25), Ray Leung, Taiwan, Youth (Hard Times)

by Nathaniel R

Oops, we're late reporting this one. We love following the Golden Horse Awards which give us insight into both Asian cinema as viewed by Asian cineastes and the Oscar race since the nominees here are often a mix of Oscar submissions from the current Oscar race and the next one (given the different calendar requirements). For instance last year's Golden Horse Awards featured one 2023 Oscar submission: Marry My Dead Body (Thailand) and at least two 2024 Oscar submissions: Abang Adik (Malaysia) and Old Fox (Taiwan). Here are the nominees for the upcoming ceremony (November 23rd, 2024). 

We only spot one Oscar contender in this year's list though (so far - AMPAS hasn't announced the official submission list. So it's possible our list of 86 submissions is slightly incomplete)  and given the release dates of some of the titles this list may be more predictive of next year's Oscar submissions in Best International Feature...

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE

DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY leads the nominations

 

The mother/daughter drama Yen and Ai-Lee and the caregiver drama Mongrel scored 8 and 7 nominations, respectively, but didn't make the feature list. 

 

BEST DIRECTOR

 

All the Best Narrative Feature nominees are also up for Best Director.  John Hsu previously won the Best New Director prize for Detention (2020). Yeo Siew-hua, from Singapore, previously won for writing A Land Imagined (2019)

 

BEST NEW DIRECTOR

 

Some Rain Must Fall about a housewife whose life is spinning out of control premiered at Berlinale. Three Castrated Goats is a satiric drama about the COVID quarantine. Love Lies is about an internet romance scam.

 

BEST LEADING ACTRESS

 

Two Asian film legends and previous winners Sandra Ng and Sylvia Chang (who is also a writer/director) are up for the prize again. Kimi Hsia is the youngest nominee (29) and follows up last year's nomination for The Lyricist Wannabe with another leading bid for her new mother/daughter drama. Her screen mother is up in Best Supporting Actress. Their film Yen and Ai-Lee, which opened in Taiwan after the Oscar submission deadline for this year, sounds like a meaty actressy drama. It's about a daughter who has been imprisoned for killing her abusive father only to return from prison to find her mom in a new abusive relationship. 

 

BEST LEADING ACTOR

 

POTENTIAL OSCAR SUBMISSION ALERT: Chang Chen (Happy Together, Dune, Red Cliff, Crouching Tiger) is a favorite of TFE's and he's up for this prize yet again. But he's the only familiar face in the lineup as the rest are first time nominees. His film The Embers is directed by Chung Mong Hong (who helmed the 2020 Oscar finalist A Sun) . If it's well received in release next month in Taiwan, it's possible we'll see this one as an Oscar submission next year in Best International Feature. It's about a police officer and a murder case.

A Journey in Spring is about a man who places his wife's remains in a freezer (!). The Way We Talk is about deaf young adults but Neo Yau is the film's only nomination. Wanlop Rungkumjad  (Mongrel) is the first Thai actor ever up for the Golden Horse Best Actor prize.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 

The oldest nominee Lu Yi Ching, who turned 66 yesterday (happy belated), received her first nomination back in 2001 for What Time Is It There but she has yet to win; She's had better luck with other Asian awards organizations. Eugenie Liu, the youngest nominee at 33, was up for this same prize last year for Taiwan's current Oscar submission Old Fox. Daughter's Daughter is another mother/daughter drama, but this one centers on an IVF journey. 

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

 

Lee Kang-Sheng previously won for Stray Dogs (2013). Mo Tzu-Yi previously won for Dear Tenant (2020). Daniel Hong has two listings as IMDB but it's the same person as Hong Yu-hong.

BEST NEW PERFORMER

 

Lin Cheng-hsun is the only male actor who made the nominee list this year. He's also a writer, having penned the film Love is a Gun (2023) which was up for a couple prizes at the Golden Horse Awards last year. His new film Intimate Encounter is due for release in Taiwan this December. It's about a man who is a gloomy place in life after a heart transplant.

 

BEST SCREENPLAY

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Beyond Youthful Days is about Taiwanese/Japanese co-production about a man reconnecting with a crush 18 years after their friendship began. Rural Chinese film Above the Dust premiered at Berlinale. Gatao Like Father Like Son is a crime drama set in the drug world. 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

SHAMBHALA is Nepal's Oscar submission this season

Interestingly only one of the Best Feature nominees is up for this prize (Bel Ami). Shambhala, shot by Aziz Zhambakiyev is Nepal's Oscar submission this season.  Kartik Vijay, who shot Yen & Ai Lee, also shot this year's Malaysian Oscar submission Abang Adik and was Golden Horse nominated for the same film.

And one final piece of fun trivia: French cinematographer Michaël Capron, nominated for Mongrel, worked in the camera department of Blue is the Warmest Colour which must have been... something! This is his sixth feature as the lead DP.

BEST ART DIRECTION

 

Another craft category with only one Best Feature nominee (Dead Talents Society). If only Oscar voters spread the wealth this much!

Chao Shih-hao, Production Designer on The Embers is a Golden Horse favourite. He's won for Classmates Minus (2020), Godspeed (2013), and Parking (2008) and was also nominated for The Great Buddha (2017) and Soul (2013). Another Golden Horse favourite is Penny Tsai, though her only win comes in the Makeup & Costume Design category (for The Garden of Evening Mists, 2019)

 

BEST MAKEUP & COSTUME DESIGN

It's a pattern. The craft categories tend to just have one Feature nominee!

 

BEST ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY

 

We're dying to know how the sexual gratification drama The Chronicles of Libidoists (pictured left) ended up in action choreography. We hope this means sweaty athletic sex scenes.  The film is also up for Best New Performer for Xiang-hua Liang (who apparently also goes by either Alisia Liang or Shawn Liang when Anglicizing her name). One of her co-stars in the movie, Kang Ren Wu, won Best Actor last year at the Golden Horse Awards for Abang Adik, Malaysia's current Oscar submission. 

BEST FILM EDITING

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

I embedded the only two I could find from Dead Talents Society and 18 x 2 Beyond Youthful Days

BEST SOUND EFFECTS

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

 

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY

YOUTH (HARD TIMES)

 

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

 

 

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

 

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

 

 

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

 

Non Competitive Awards...

OUTSTANDING TAIWANESE FILMMAKER OF THE YEAR - Li Si-jian
 

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - Lin Wen-chin

Cheng Pei-pei in wuxia classic COME DRINK WITH ME (1966)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - Cheng Pei-pei
This Shanghai-born screen legend died in July. Her original claim to fame is the action classic Come Drink With Me (1966). Internationally she's best remembered as the villainous "Jade Fox" in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000). She's also wonderful in the gay drama Lilting (2014). Her last film was Disney's  Mulan (2020) in which she played "Matchmaker".

 

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
See website for complete article licensing information.