Stonewalling: China-set Drama Wins Best Film at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards
Hu Ling made history on Saturday as the first Chinese film star to grace the red carpet of Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards since 2019. During that year, China had boycotted the prestigious awards show due to political tensions surrounding Taiwan's status as a self-ruled island.
The boycott stemmed from a Taiwanese director expressing support for the island's independence during an acceptance speech in 2018, prompting Beijing to ban its entertainers from participating in the event.
Chinese director Huang Ji, accompanied by her Japanese husband Ryuji Otsuka, attended the ceremony and jointly received the coveted best feature film award for their social drama «Stonewalling.»
In her acceptance speech, Huang expressed gratitude to the Golden Horse Awards, stating, «After winning the Golden Horse awards, we can go to a wilder world and gallop.»
Historically, China has blacklisted its stars for perceived support of Taiwan's independence, leading to the absence of mainland films in the 2019 nominations and the withdrawal of several Hong Kong movies. The red carpet of the 2020 and 2021 awards also lacked big commercial productions.
However, this year marked a departure from the previous trend, with Hu Ling nominated for best actress in the education drama «Carp Leaping Over Dragon's Gate.» Despite her presence in a shimmering gown holding a pineapple, symbolizing good luck in Taiwanese culture, Hu lost to 12-year-old Audrey Lin, who became the youngest-ever best actress winner in Golden Horse history for her role in «Trouble Girl.»
Other notable winners included Taiwanese director Hsiao Ya-chuan for best director with «Old Fox» and Wu Kang-ren for best actor in the Malaysian film «Abang Adik.» The best documentary short film
