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
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