“The Falls,” Taiwan’s Oscar nominee and timely drama about the trauma of midlife at home, became the unsurprising winner of the Golden Horse Film Awards in Taipei on Saturday.
And, in a bold move that has the potential to enrage authorities in mainland China, the award for Best Feature Documentary went to “Revolution of Our Times”. The film chronicles the brutality of political repression on the streets of Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020.
“The Falls,” which debuted at the Venice Film Festival in September, tells the story of a mother and daughter locked in an apartment for around 40. It is directed by Chung Mong-hong, who previously directed “Parking” and “A Sun”.
At the awards ceremony, “The Falls” won four awards, including Best Narrative Feature, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Original Music.
The Golden Horse Film Awards are now in their 58th year and have been considered for many years as the most prestigious event in Chinese language cinema, covering all dialects and backgrounds. In the past three editions, however, it has been boycotted by mainland Chinese films and filmmakers on the orders of the film industry authorities, and by many Hong Kong people.
The boycott followed a speech in favor of Taiwan’s independence given by a 2018 documentary award winner. It enraged officials in mainland China so much that mainland attendees at the ceremony received a SMS ordering them not to attend the parties after the awards ceremony and to return home with maximum haste. . Taiwan has been autonomous since 1949, is democratically governed, and is called the Republic of China. Mainland China, properly called the People’s Republic of China, sees Taiwan as a rebellious province with which it will ultimately be united, by force if necessary.
“Revolution of Our Times” takes its title from a popular slogan promoting Hong Kong’s independence from China. The film, which was first presented as a surprise and a late addition to the Cannes Film Festival in July, charts the course of the protests and the police response as they both turn violent. It ends with Beijing imposing a national security law on Hong Kong.
It was directed by Kiwi Chow, who was previously one of the co-directors of “Ten Years”. Chow has boldly decided to stay in Hong Kong since the release of “Revolution”, but, in order to give himself some legal leeway in the event of an arrest, has sold off all rights and materials related to the film.
Another Hong Kong film “Drifting” topped the nominations before the event. But he came away with one price.
Golden Horse Film Awards 2021 Winners
Best Narrative Feature
“Les Chutes” dir. Chung Mong-hong.
Best Feature Documentary
“Revolution of our time” dir. Kiwi Chow, Hong Kong.
Best Live Action Short Film
Real “Have a nice day” Zhang Zhi-teng.
Best Documentary Short
“In their teenagers” dir. Lin Yu-en.
Best animated short
“The Magic Tracing” Wu De-chuen.
Best director
Clara Law for “Drifting Petals”.
Best Lead Actor
Chang Chen in “The Soul”.
Best Leading Actress
Alyssa Chia in “The Falls”.
Best Supporting Actor
Lee Kuan-ting in “Trick or Treat”.
Best Supporting Actress
Wang Yu-xuan in “Fucking Asura”.
Best New Director
Fiona Roan Feng-i for “American Girl”.
Best New Performer
Caitlin Fang in “American Girl”.
Best Original Screenplay
Chung Mong-hong and Chang Yaosheng for “The Falls”.
Best Adapted Scenario
Jun Li for “Drifting”.
Best photography
Giorgos Valsamis for “American Girl”.
Better visual effects
ArChin Yen for “Till We Meet Again”.
Best artistic direction
Huang Mei-Chin, Liang Shuo-lin and Liao Hui-li for “The Soul”.
Best makeup and costume design
Singing Lin, Hsiao Pai-chen and Liu Hsien-chia for “Till We Meet Again”.
Best Action Cinematography
Chan Man-fai, Chu Ke-feng, Feng Ren-zhi for “Nezha”.
Best Original Music
Lu Luming for “The Falls”.
Best Original Song
“I Missed You” (composed, written, performed by Eve Ai)
Best Film Editing
Shieh Meng-ju for “The Soul”.
Best sound effects
RT Kao and Chu Shih-yi for “Till We Meet Again”.
Best Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year
Frank Chen.
People’s Choice Award
“American girl”.
FIPRESCI Prize
“American girl”.
Lifetime Achievement Award (2)
Lin Tsan-ting.
Tsai Yang-ming.
