Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards|Taiwan Festivals

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards (Chinese: 台北金馬影展; pinyin: Táiběi Jīnmǎ Yǐngzhǎn) is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The awards ceremony is usually held in November or December in Taipei, though the venue has been shifted around the country in recent times.

##Overview

Since 1990 (the 27th awards ceremony), the festival and awards was organized and funded by the Motion Picture Development Foundation R.O.C. It set up the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee. The Committee consists of nine to fifteen film scholars and film scholars on the executive board, which includes the Chairman and CEO. Under the Committee, there are five different departments: the administration department for internal administrative affairs, guest hospitality and cross-industry collaboration; the marketing department which is responsible for event planning and promotion, advertising and publications; the project promotion department attending to the execution of the project meetings; the competition department which is in charge of the competition and awards ceremony; and the festival department which is devoted to festival planning, curation of films and invitation of filmmakers, subtitle transition and production and all on-site arrangements during the festival.

The awards ceremony is Taiwan’s equivalent to the Academy Awards. The awards are contested by Chinese-language submissions from Taiwan, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China (PRC) and elsewhere. It is one of the four major Chinese-language film awards, along with Hong Kong Film Award, Golden Rooster Awards and Hundred Flowers Awards, also one of the most prestigious film awards and among the most respected in Chinese-speaking world. It is also one of the major annual awards presented in Taiwan along with Golden Bell Awards for television production and Golden Melody Awards for music.

The Golden Horse awards ceremony is held after a month-long festival showcasing some of the nominated feature films for the awards. A substantial number of the film winners in the history of the awards have been Hong Kong productions. Submission period are usually around July to August each year and nominations are announced around October with the ceremony held in November or December. Although it has been held once a year; however, it was stopped in 1964 and 1974. Winners are selected by a jury of judges and awarded a Golden Horse statuette during the broadcast ceremony.

##History

In May 1962, the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) enacted the “Mandarin Film Award Regulation of Year 1962” to officially found the Golden Horse Awards. The name Golden Horse (金馬) comes from the islands of Kinmen (金門) and Matsu (馬祖), which are under ROC control.

The awards ceremony was established to boost the industry of making Chinese films, award the good Chinese movies and good moviemakers. It is one of the most honorable awards in the movie industry in Asia. It has been helping the development of movies in Chinese as it provides great support and encouragement to the filmmakers. Moreover, it intends to introduce excellent films to Taiwanese audience from around the world to stimulate exchange of ideas and inspire creativity.

##Entries and eligibility

The awards ceremony does not only pay attention to commercial movies but also the artistic ones and documentaries. This move generate some critiques from the society because they believe that it cannot help much with the Taiwanese commercial movie industry. However, the awards ceremony plays a significant role in helping the movie industry and drawing more people’s attention to Chinese-language movies.

Under current regulations, any film made primarily in Chinese is eligible for competition. Since 1996, a liberalization act allows for films from mainland China to enter the Awards. Mainland artists or films have won several times, such as Jiang Wen's In the Heat of the Sun in 1996, Best Actor for Xia Yu (夏雨) in 1996, Joan Chen's Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl in 1999, Best Actress for Qin Hailu (秦海璐) in 2001 and Lu Chuan's Kekexili: Mountain Patrol in 2004.

##Awards ceremonies

##Award categories

Current categories

Discontinued categories

##Hosts

During the first fourteen award ceremonies, there were no hosts hosting the event. Hosts came in since the fifteenth ceremony, that year’s hosts were Ivy Ling Po and Wang Hao. Since then, there are usually two hosts every year, with a combination of one host from Hong Kong and the other from Taiwan. The general public is happy with this combination as it gives an interesting interaction to the audience. A significant number of celebrities have hosted the ceremony, such as Jackie Chan, Eric Tsang, Kevin Tsai and Dee Hsu. In 2012 (the 49th awards ceremony), Bowie Tsang and Huang Bo were the hosts and Huang Bo became the first host from Mainland China in the history of the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards.

##Superlatives

• In 2009, the 46th awards ceremony, it was the first time having two winners in the Best Actor award: Hong Kong actor Cheung Ka-fai and Chinese actor Huang Bo.
• In 2006, the 43rd awards ceremony, 9-year-old actor Gouw Ian Iskander was crowned as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in After This Our Exile. He became the youngest winner in the history of the awards.
• Taiwanese actress Loretta Yang was named Best Leading Actress in the 21st and 22nd awards ceremony. She is the first actress who won this award two years in a row.
• Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan was crowned as the Best Leading Actor in the 29th and 30th awards ceremony. He is the first actor who won this award two years in a row.
• Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong has won the most number of the Best Supporting Actor award. He won this award in the 39th, 40th and 42nd awards ceremony with the movies Xiang Fei, Infernal Affairs and Initial D.
• Chinese actress Wang Lai has won the most number of the Best Supporting Actress awards. She won this award in the 3rd, 18th, 25th and 28th awards ceremony with the movies, ‘人之初’, ‘小葫蘆’, People between two China, and Pushing Hands.
• Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wei has won the most Best Leading Actor awards. He won this award in the 31st, 40th and 41st awards ceremony with the movies Chungking Express, Infernal Affairs, and Lust, Caution.
• Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung won the most Best Leading Actress awards. She won this award in the 26th, 28th, 34th and 37th awards ceremony with the movies, Full Moon in New York, Centre Stage, Comrades: Almost a Love Story, and In the Mood for Love.
• Chinese director and actress Joan Chen is the first person who won awards across two categories, the Best Director (in 1998 for Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl) and the Best Leading Actress. Moreover, she was the first female to win this award.
• In 2012, the 49th awards ceremony, Huang Bo became the first host from China.
• Also in 2012, Hong Kong actor Chapman To was nominated as the Best Actor for the movie Vulgaria and the Best Supporting Actor for the movie Diva. He is the only person who is nominated in these two categories in the same year.
• In 2015, Taiwanese actress Karena Lam became the first person to have won the triple acting awards: Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best New Performer.