Actor and director Lee Hong-chi (李鴻其) on Saturday won the Lion of the Future Luigi De Laurentiis award for best debut work with Love is a Gun (愛是一把槍) at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
The movie was the first Taiwanese film to win the award and Lee, 33, was the first Taiwanese winner at the festival after director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) won the Grand Jury Prize for Stray Dogs (郊遊) at the 70th Venice Film Festival 10 years ago.
“Many Chinese-language film masters and seniors have stood on this stage in the past. They have deeply influenced the worldview of my films. They are all role models for me to learn from,” he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
He thanked the judges for the honor and the encouragement, as well as his team and family for supporting him along the way.
“Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to make this movie. I will continue to work hard and keep filming,” he said.
Love is a Gun tells a story about the difficulties encountered by young people in a society struggling in the post-COVID-19-pandemic era.
A young man played by Lee wants to start a new life after being released from prison, but is pulled back into his past by friends and family.
Lee won best actor at the 17th Taipei Film Awards and best new performer at the 52nd Golden Horse Film Awards, with his role of Rat in the 2015 movie Thanatos, Drunk (醉生夢死).
After acting for six years, he earned immediate recognition in his directorial debut.
Film critic Eric Lavallee praised Love is a Gun.
“Channeling ethereal qualities akin to Lee Chang-dong’s Burning and some portraits crafted by Jia Zhang-ke (賈樟柯), this film encapsulates the sensation of perpetually treading water, never breaking free from its embrace,” Lavallee said.
The film is to be released in Taiwan by Hooray Films in December.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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