Golden Horse Awards 2025

by Nathaniel R

Oscar winner Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) with Golden Horse Best Director Jun Li (Queerpanorama). They both won Best Director prizes for gay dramas!

I don't know why I torture myself covering the Golden Horse Awards each year as there are so many films I'm never able to see (or forget about by the time they do become available stateside). Neverthless the Taiwanese awards are among my favourite races to follow in international cinema. I hope to catch up with four of the winners in particular: A Foggy Tale, Queerpanorama, Mother Bhumi, and Lucky Lu. The ceremony was held on November 22nd. Here are the nominations and wins for their 62nd annual edition with some commentary and some random trivia including a Chappel Roan connection (How very random!)...

Click to read more ...

TIFF 50: Sweden's "Eagles of the Republic" and Taiwan's "Left-Handed Girl"

by Cláudio Alves

For the past three years, a big part of my TIFF journey has revolved around the Best International Film Oscar submissions. Although I try not to limit myself to award contenders when deciding what to watch and cover, this particular race is very close to my heart, often serving as a bridge between more mainstream audiences and the endless possibilities of world cinema. Earlier, I shared my thoughts on Norway's Sentimental Value, but today, it's time to examine that nation's Scandinavian neighbor, Sweden. And then, let's travel east, to Taiwan, where we find our most recent Oscar king producing, editing, and co-writing his longtime collaborator's solo directorial debut. Tarik Saleh's Eagles of the Republic and Shih-Ching Tsou's Left-Handed Girl await us…

Click to read more ...

Golden Horse Nominations for 2024

by Nathaniel R

NOW UPDATED WITH THE WINNERS! Marked by a ⭐

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 two current Oscar submissions: Abang Adik (Malaysia) and Old Fox (Taiwan). Here are the nominees and winners for the ceremony which was held on November 23rd, 2024. 

There is only one International Oscar submission among this year's Golden Horse nominees (Nepal's submission received one nomination here) but given the release dates of some of the titles on this list may be more predictive of next year's Oscar submissions in Best International Feature...

Click to read more ...

Interview: 'Goddamned Asura' director Lou Yi-an on his multi-layered crime drama

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Inspired by a 2014 real-life killing, Goddamned Asura explores the lives of six people involved in a ramdom shooting in a night market, including the perpetrator - a troubled teenager named Jan Wen. The film follows not only the lead-up to the shooting incident, but also the aftermath of the characters as they face the repercussions of the actions of Jan Wen.The result is a somber exploration of class, isolation, and violence that is unfortunately still timely and universal.

Goddamned Asura is Taiwan's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. In this interview, co-writer and director Lou Yi-an expounds on the origins and themes of the story as well as explaining some terms with their cultural context compared to their English translation...

Click to read more ...

Hou Hsiao-Hsien @75: New Millennium (2001-2022)

The conclusion of a four part series by Cláudio Alves

In the cinema of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, the 21st century started with a neon dream. The camera follows Shu Qi's Vicky as she runs through a Taipei tunnel, lights flickering above. Everything happens in slow-motion, flickers turn into waves and the actress's movement makes a strange unnatural dance. She looks back at us, hair flying in a cloud of black tendrils, her eyes asking us to follow her down the tunnel, like Alice down the rabbit hole. It's a hypnotic sight, made more seductive by the music of Lim Giong, house beats and techno dronings that transform the screen into a pulsing heart.

2001's Millennium Mambo fulfills the formalistic promise of Daughter of the Nile, transcending Goodbye South, Goodbye's tethering to material truth. Like its protagonist, the film looks back at its director's history while moving forward to an unknown future. It's the start of a new chapter for Hou Hsiao-Hsien…

Click to read more ...