Seediq and Bullets head Horse race

---

---

Awards News

Two period action dramas, Taiwan's Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale 賽德克・巴萊 (2011) and China's Let the Bullets Fly 讓子彈飛 (2010), have the most nominations for Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards (金馬獎). With 11 and 9 nominations respectively, they directly compete in 5 categories.

JIANG Wen 姜文's Bullets is China's highest grossing film; WEI Te-sheng 魏德聖's Seediq is Taiwan's most expensive. Part One of Seediq is currently the number two local film at the Taipei box office this year, behind Giddens 九把刀' You Are the Apple of My Eye 那些年，我們一起追的女孩。 (2011).

Bullets and Seediq compete in the best feature film category against three dramas, Ann HUI 許鞍華's A Simple Life 桃姐 (2011), TENG Yung-hsing 鄧勇星's Return Ticket 到阜陽六百里 (2010) and ZHANG Meng 張猛's The Piano in a Factory 鋼的琴 (2010). All but Teng also compete for best director.

Piano and Simple Life are also recognised in many major award categories with 7 and 6 nominations respectively. Period martial arts film Wu Xia 武俠 (2011) was nominated in six sections, but apart from Jimmy WANG 王羽's recognition for supporting actor, all are in technical categories.

One of the most vibrant sections this year is best new director in which Giddens competes with three Mainland directors: DU Jiayi 杜家毅 for Kora 轉山 (2011), XU Haofeng 徐浩峰 for The Sword Identity 倭寇的蹤跡 (2011), and Wuershan 烏爾善 for The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman 刀見笑 (2010).

Apple received nominations in three further categories: best song, best newcomer for Kai KO 柯震東 and best actress for his co-star Michelle CHEN 陳妍希 (pictured right). In one of the most competitive categories, Chen is up against Taiwan's SHU Qi 舒淇, Hong Kong's Deanie IP 葉德嫻 and China's QIN Hailu 秦海璐.

This year an unusual number of Taiwan film-makers are nominated for their work on Mainland films. Also, South Korean talent has again been recognised at a regional awards ceremony for their work on large-scale Chinese-language films.

Taiwanese nominees working in the Mainland's film industry include Shu CHOU 周書豪 (nominated for his cinematography on Piano), Elsa YANG 楊南倩 (script of Return Ticket), and CHANG Chia-lu 張家魯 and CHENG Hsiao-tse 程孝澤 (adapted screenplay of Kora).

Nominations for South Koreans are for the visual effects work on A Chinese Ghost Story 倩女幽魂 (2011) and The Sorcerer and the White Snake 白蛇傳說 (2011), for YANG Gil-yeong 양길영 and SHIM Jae-won 심재원's action choreography on Seediq, and for OH Young-mook 오영묵's score for Piano.

South Korean auteur LEE Chang-dong 이창동 | 李滄東 is among the jury members who will decide the award winners. The other foreign jurors — HUANG Bo 黃渤, PANG Ho-cheung 彭浩翔 and Edward LAM 林奕華 — have worked or studied in Taiwan. The remaining 11 of the 15 jury members are local.

The awards ceremony will be held in Hsinchu City on 26 Nov 2011.

---