Golden Horse Awards boycott: why it will be business as usual between China, Taiwan film industries
- Relationship between film industries on island and in mainland China will survive the latter’s absence from ‘Chinese Oscars’ this year, say industry insiders
- Beijing sees cultural exchanges as furthering its goal of reunification, says one, and Taiwanese films will still feature at two festivals in mainland China
China may be boycotting the annual Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards in Taipei this November, but this is unlikely to affect China-Taiwan film co-productions, or have any impact on their respective film markets, according to key players in the industry.
Wu Kao-hsiung, a member of the Cross-Strait Films Exchange Committee that co-organises annual film festivals with the China Film Association, says relations between Chinese and Taiwanese filmmakers have not been affected by the former’s boycott of the Golden Horse Awards, known as the Chinese-language cinema Oscars.
He says a film festival jointly organised with the Fujian Film Administration, expected to be held in December in Fujian, the mainland Chinese province nearest Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait, “will progress as usual”. Taiwan will contribute 10 films to the festival, half of them new releases, according to Wu, president of Taipei-based Dragons Group Film Company.
“If mainland Chinese distributors like any of the new movies, they will help with their release in China. There will also be conferences on cross-strait co-production during the festival,” he says.
Besides the film festival in Fujian, Wu says Taiwanese filmmakers will also participate in the Silk Road International Film Festival, to be held, also in Fujian, in October. “Other than the [Golden Horse] ban, I don’t see other cross-strait film exchanges are affected,” says Wu.