Politics overshadowed the 55th Golden Horse Awards after some winners and presenters on Saturday mentioned Taiwanese independence and Chinese unification.
In her acceptance speech, Taiwanese director Fu Yue (傅榆), whose Our Youth in Taiwan (我們的青春，在台灣) won Best Documentary, said: “I really hope that one day, our country can be treated as a truly independent entity… This is my greatest wish as a Taiwanese.”
Shortly afterward, when Chinese actor Tu Men (涂們) went on stage to present the Best Leading Actress award, he said he was honored to be returning as a presenter in “China, Taiwan.”
Photo: Chung Chih-kai, Taipei Times
The “two sides of the [Taiwan] Strait are one family,” said Tu, who won the Best Leading Actor at last year’s awards.
Several Chinese entertainers — including Zhou Xun (周迅), Sun Li (孫儷), Hu Ge (胡歌), Deng Chao (鄧超) and Wu Jinyan (吳謹言) — later reshared on Sina Weibo (新浪微博) a post by the Communist Youth League of China that read: “China, not even one bit less.”
Chinese netizens swamped Fu’s Facebook page, with one writing, “As soon as [Taiwan] declares independence, we can fight.”
Fu responded yesterday with a 1,000-character message saying that there was a lot of misunderstanding and hatred between the Chinese and Taiwanese public, adding her film — which addressed the issue of student-led social movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China — wanted to tackle this problem.
The current situation is not necessarily the ending, but might perhaps be the beginning of another conversation, she added.
To those who criticized her for mentioning politics, Fu said that the subject of her film was politics, so she could not keep politics and art separate.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that Taiwanese have never accepted the wording “China, Taiwan.”
While filmmakers are welcome in Taiwan, they should respect the feelings of Taiwanese once they are here, Tsai added.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) New Taipei City mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said the Golden Horse Awards are the Oscars of the Chinese-speaking community and they demonstrate that only in a free and open Taiwan can there be a free and open occasion at which people with talent can compete.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) campaign team said it has emphasized multiple times that politics in Kaohsiung must be “returned to zero,” citing Han as saying let Taipei take care of the politics; Kaohsiung is going to focus on boosting the economy.
KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said that although Taiwan is a diverse and democratic nation, and its people enjoy freedom of speech, the awards should try to be less political; while his DPP rival, Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智), said that what happened at the ceremony was a microcosm of the development of Taiwanese politics.
Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), in a Facebook post with photograph of her and Fu, said the Golden Horse Awards were an international award that respects the art of filmmaking and creative freedom.
However, please remember: this is Taiwan, not ‘China, Taiwan,’” she wrote.
Asked by reporters yesterday for his opinion on the uproar, Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安), who chaired this year’s award executive committee, said the award does its best to be fair and even-handed.
“There’s freedom in Taiwan, and the film festival is open [to everyone],” Lee said, adding that no one was told what to say at the event.
“Everyone in the film industry is our guest,” he said.
He also called for greater respect for the film industry.
For people in Taiwan and abroad, the Golden Horse Awards are a platform for art and art critics, and “we prefer it to remain pure and for there to be no disturbances,” he said
“Please show respect for the film industry,” he said.
Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s (張藝謀) martial arts epic Shadow (影) took the most awards on Saturday, including Best Director and three technical awards.
Best Film went to An Elephant Sitting Still (大象席地而坐), directed by Hu Bo (胡波), who died last year aged 29 in Beijing. Hu also won Best Adapted Screenplay.
Taiwanese theater veteran Hsieh Ying-xuan (謝盈萱) won Best Actress with her first movie Dear EX (誰先愛上他的), while Chinese actor Xu Zheng (徐崢) won Best Actor for his role in Dying to Survive (我不是藥神).
Additional reporting by Chung Hung-liang, Shen Pei-yao, Ou Su-mei, Chou Yan-yu, Chen Yu-fu, Wang Hsin-yu, CNA and Reuters
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS