https://www.scmp.com/rss/501848/feed The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, sometimes known as Asia's Oscars, is a Taiwan-based event showcasing Chinese-language films from around the world. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Edmund Lee Edmund Lee This is the 75th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. When Tony Leung Ka-fai took to the stage of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre on April 19 to accept the best actor prize at the 44th Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA), he became the only person to win that honour across five consecutive decades. Yet for the 68-year-old veteran, his accolades are a by-product of his endurance – he has previously admitted to keeping his... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3351095/how-tony-leung-ka-fais-hong-kong-film-awards-record-caps-wild-journey-actor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3351095/how-tony-leung-ka-fais-hong-kong-film-awards-record-caps-wild-journey-actor?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Apr 2026 23:15:07 +0000 Ashlyn Chak Ashlyn Chak This is the 73rd instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. In the golden age of Hong Kong’s entertainment industry, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing was a star so bright that he rewrote the rules of conservative Asian society. Affectionately nicknamed Gor Gor – Cantonese for “older brother” – the Cantopop legend’s talent spanned disciplines and extended far beyond the city’s borders. Even now, decades after his death in 2003, fans from around the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3348009/how-leslie-cheung-broke-all-rules-become-hong-kongs-greatest-modern-superstar?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3348009/how-leslie-cheung-broke-all-rules-become-hong-kongs-greatest-modern-superstar?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 23:15:13 +0000 Charmaine Yu Charmaine Yu This is the 65th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. For over half a century, Alan Tam Wing-lun has stood as a colossus in Hong Kong show business. To his legions of fans, he is Principal Tam – a moniker that denotes a kind of institutional authority over the city’s music industry. As lead vocalist of The Wynners, he defined the sound of a generation; as a solo singer, he set records that remain impressive; and as a mentor, he has... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3335141/hong-kong-music-icon-alan-tam-leslie-cheungs-rival-fans-smashing-his-albums?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3335141/hong-kong-music-icon-alan-tam-leslie-cheungs-rival-fans-smashing-his-albums?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Dec 2025 23:15:09 +0000 James Marsh James Marsh When director Tsou Shih-ching was a child in Taiwan, her grandfather scolded her for using her left hand, calling it “the devil’s hand”. She vividly remembers the “sense of guilt”, a feeling of “like I did something wrong” that stayed with her for decades. That childhood memory has now become the seed for her solo directorial debut, Left-Handed Girl, a deeply personal film that has become one of the year’s most celebrated. It tells the story of a mother (Janel Tsai) and her two daughters working... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3333239/why-sean-bakers-taiwanese-producer-took-20-years-make-her-debut-film-left-handed-girl?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3333239/why-sean-bakers-taiwanese-producer-took-20-years-make-her-debut-film-left-handed-girl?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:45:08 +0000 Ashlyn Chak Ashlyn Chak This is the 61st instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. For five decades, Chow Yun-fat has been two people. There is the global superstar: the impossibly cool anti-hero of John Woo Yu-sum’s action classics such as The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled (1992); the stoic, high-flying warrior of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); and one of the highest-paid actors in Chinese-language cinema. And then there is the man Hongkongers... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3328297/how-chow-yun-fat-became-hong-kong-cinema-superstar-without-losing-his-humility?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3328297/how-chow-yun-fat-became-hong-kong-cinema-superstar-without-losing-his-humility?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Oct 2025 23:15:13 +0000 Edmund Lee Edmund Lee Taiwanese director Chen Yu-hsun’s period drama A Foggy Tale, set against Taiwan’s White Terror era, has emerged as the front runner at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards with 11 nominations, including best picture, best director and acting nods for its leads. Close behind is Left-Handed Girl, a coming-of-age drama from first-time director Tsou Shih-ching, who is known for producing several films by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker (The Florida Project). Left-Handed Girl’s nine nods include two for... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3327599/golden-horse-awards-2025-nominations-full-foggy-tale-left-handed-girl-lead-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3327599/golden-horse-awards-2025-nominations-full-foggy-tale-left-handed-girl-lead-race?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Oct 2025 06:04:51 +0000 Lisa Cam Lisa Cam This is the 57th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Francis Ng Chun-yu is a curious Hong Kong cinema statistic: despite being nominated six times for best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, the local industry’s highest honour, he has never won – even though he is one of the city’s most acclaimed and versatile performers in recent decades. While his contemporaries like Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Lau Ching-wan have multiple statues to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3321980/how-francis-ng-transcended-movie-villainy-become-one-hong-kongs-most-revered-actors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3321980/how-francis-ng-transcended-movie-villainy-become-one-hong-kongs-most-revered-actors?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Aug 2025 09:15:08 +0000 3.5/5 stars A widow in her sixties with a pair of estranged daughters is confronted with a difficult decision following a family tragedy in Huang Xi’s thoughtful drama Daughter’s Daughter. Winner of the 2024 Golden Horse Awards prize for best screenplay at a ceremony in Taiwan in November, the film explores the strained relationships between parents and their children in a society that is losing sight of traditional filial duties. Veteran actress Sylvia Chang Ai-chia gives one of her most... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3290106/daughters-daughter-movie-review-sylvia-chang-anchors-tale-pan-generational-trauma?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3290106/daughters-daughter-movie-review-sylvia-chang-anchors-tale-pan-generational-trauma?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Dec 2024 05:45:07 +0000 Supernatural comedy Dead Talents Society, from Taiwanese director John Hsu Han-chiang of Detention fame, leads the race for honours in the 61st Golden Horse Awards with 11 nominations, including best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Starring Gingle Wang Ching – arguably Taiwan’s hottest young actress of the past couple of years – as a newly deceased woman, the hilarious movie pictures a world in which spirits must prove themselves worthy of becoming ghosts through a rigorous... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3280888/golden-horse-awards-2024-nominations-full-all-shall-be-well-leads-hong-kong-contenders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3280888/golden-horse-awards-2024-nominations-full-all-shall-be-well-leads-hong-kong-contenders?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Oct 2024 03:51:57 +0000 This is the 27th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. When people talk about influential figures in Hong Kong’s pop music scene, especially this century, Eason Chan Yick-shun’s name is one that often comes up. Chan was born in Hong Kong in 1974. He went to the UK to study architecture at Kingston University London – his father was a chief government building services engineer – but, against his father’s wishes, dropped out of school to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3267174/eason-chan-hong-kong-actor-and-singer-whos-never-been-afraid-court-controversy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3267174/eason-chan-hong-kong-actor-and-singer-whos-never-been-afraid-court-controversy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Jun 2024 23:15:08 +0000 This is the 26th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Joey Wong Cho-yee, also known as Joey Wong Cho-yin and Joey Wang, is one of the most well-known actresses of the 1980s and 90s Hong Kong entertainment scene. One of the “four flowers” of Hong Kong cinema – along with Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Cherie Chung Chor-hung and Rosamund Kwan Chi-lam – the Taiwanese actress shot to fame after starring in A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) and became... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3265468/whos-joey-wong-she-acted-jackie-chan-leslie-cheung-hong-kong-films-golden-age?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3265468/whos-joey-wong-she-acted-jackie-chan-leslie-cheung-hong-kong-films-golden-age?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Jun 2024 23:15:09 +0000 When Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun was young, his grandmother would make sure that he came home on time at night by warning him of a mysterious “513”. “She’d say, ‘You better come home quickly. If you don’t come home and 513 happens again, you’ll lose your lives,’” Chong says. “As children, we only knew it as three numbers, so it was almost like this weird monster.” Years later, he would discover that 513 referred to the darkest day in Malaysia’s history: May 13, 1969. On that day,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3261692/why-film-malaysian-historys-darkest-day-snow-midsummer-about-deadly-1969-sectarian-riots-was-so-hard?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3261692/why-film-malaysian-historys-darkest-day-snow-midsummer-about-deadly-1969-sectarian-riots-was-so-hard?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 May 2024 10:15:14 +0000 Let’s set the scene: the year is 1987, and the president of Taiwan, Chiang Ching-kuo, has just lifted the martial law after 38 years. As Taiwan begins its path to democracy, it also enters a period of rapid economic development and immense uncertainty, with clashes between the different classes in society and a growing wealth gap becoming more evident. This era serves as the backdrop for Old Fox, the latest film from Taiwanese director Hsiao Ya-chuan and the winner of four prizes at the 60th... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3260036/message-old-fox-movie-about-social-change-taiwan-after-martial-law-according-director-hsiao-ya-chuan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3260036/message-old-fox-movie-about-social-change-taiwan-after-martial-law-according-director-hsiao-ya-chuan?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Apr 2024 23:15:13 +0000 This is the 22nd instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Sandra Ng Kwan-yue has been a respected film actress and producer for so long, it may be easy to forget that she started as a comedian who was used to playing “unattractive” supporting roles on TV in the 1980s. Ng was born in 1965 the daughter of actor and TV presenter Kenneth Ng Kam-tsun (better known as Ha Chun Chau), and attended the prestigious St Stephen’s Girls’ College, one of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3258592/every-day-im-striving-hong-kong-filmmaker-sandra-ngs-evolution-playing-funny-hag-lauded-producer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3258592/every-day-im-striving-hong-kong-filmmaker-sandra-ngs-evolution-playing-funny-hag-lauded-producer?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Apr 2024 23:15:13 +0000 2/5 stars In 2020, Taiwanese filmmaker Chen Yu-hsun’s romantic fantasy My Missing Valentine was the surprise winner in that year’s Golden Horse Awards, scooping the prizes for best film, best director and best original screenplay. Not only did it mark the first time a comedy had taken top honours since Stephen Chow Sing-chi’s Kung Fu Hustle in 2005, but its success came despite deeply problematic issues in its story relating to consent that felt wholly out of step with the post-#MeToo climate of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3251722/my-missing-valentine-movie-review-japanese-remake-also-known-one-second-ahead-one-second-behind?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3251722/my-missing-valentine-movie-review-japanese-remake-also-known-one-second-ahead-one-second-behind?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Feb 2024 09:15:09 +0000 This is the 17th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Chapman To Man-chat is a name that dedicated fans of Hong Kong comic films will readily recognise. Best known for his roles in bawdy and lighthearted productions, the actor, who began his career at Hong Kong terrestrial broadcaster ATV, achieved mainstream recognition in the early 2000s with his role in the acclaimed big-screen crime thriller Infernal Affairs and its sequels. To’s... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3250501/lowbrow-comedy-star-vocal-opponent-chinese-communist-party-hong-kong-actor-and-film-producer-chapman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3250501/lowbrow-comedy-star-vocal-opponent-chinese-communist-party-hong-kong-actor-and-film-producer-chapman?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Feb 2024 23:15:13 +0000 Korean historical epic 12.12: The Day and Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the field with six nominations apiece in the 17th Asian Film Awards, the organisers announced on Friday. Director Kim Sung-soo’s 12.12: The Day, which was the highest grossing film in South Korea last year, is an action-packed drama that is based on a real-life military coup in 1979. Hamaguchi’s latest film was the winner of the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3248251/asian-film-awards-2024-nominations-full-evil-does-not-exist-and-1212-day-lead-field-2-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3248251/asian-film-awards-2024-nominations-full-evil-does-not-exist-and-1212-day-lead-field-2-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Jan 2024 10:04:23 +0000 This is the 15th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Leon Lai Ming is one of Hong Kong’s best loved entertainers. He is known as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop” alongside Andy Lau Tak-wah, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau and Aaron Kwok Fu-shing. The singer and actor has been in show business for more than 35 years, during which time he has recorded more than 50 albums and appeared in over 50 films, including Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3247128/who-leon-lai-one-four-heavenly-kings-cantopop-actor-singer-father-and-one-most-well-liked?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3247128/who-leon-lai-one-four-heavenly-kings-cantopop-actor-singer-father-and-one-most-well-liked?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jan 2024 23:15:08 +0000 Anita Mui Yim-fong’s sultry voice, flamboyant looks and captivating stage presence made the Cantopop icon a dominant force on the East Asian entertainment scene. Mui’s journey to stardom began in 1982 when she won the very first New Talent Singing Awards competition organised by Hong Kong broadcaster TVB. In the eight years following her debut, she garnered so many accolades that, in 1990, she announced she would not accept any more. All her subsequent musical awards were tribute honours. For... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3246379/anita-mui-her-glittering-movie-and-musical-career-and-her-legacy-20-years-after-her-untimely-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3246379/anita-mui-her-glittering-movie-and-musical-career-and-her-legacy-20-years-after-her-untimely-death?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Dec 2023 23:45:09 +0000 3/5 stars A pair of undocumented orphans navigate the slums of Kuala Lumpur in writer-director Jin Ong’s debut feature, Abang Adik, which arrives in Hong Kong cinemas upon a wave of rapturous critical acclaim. After it became the first Malaysian film to take top honours at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, Taiwanese star Wu Kang-ren was anointed with the best actor prize at last month’s Golden Horse awards. Wu delivers a compelling performance as Abang, a deaf-mute who works odd jobs... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3243716/abang-adik-movie-review-taiwanese-actor-wu-kang-ren-stars-deaf-mute-acclaimed-malaysian-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3243716/abang-adik-movie-review-taiwanese-actor-wu-kang-ren-stars-deaf-mute-acclaimed-malaysian-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Dec 2023 03:15:18 +0000 Hong Kong filmmaker Nick Cheuk Yik-him has won best new director at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards for his socially conscious drama Time Still Turns the Pages about family trauma and student suicide. During his acceptance speech at the awards ceremony in Taipei on Saturday night, Cheuk paid tribute to the friend whose suicide inspired his first feature. “I would like to thank my friend who is resting in heaven,” he said. “I know I will never be able to return to that night and give my friend a hug... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3242825/golden-horse-awards-2023-hong-kongs-nick-cheuk-wins-best-new-director-tragic-drama-time-still-turns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3242825/golden-horse-awards-2023-hong-kongs-nick-cheuk-wins-best-new-director-tragic-drama-time-still-turns?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2023 11:57:21 +0000 This is the 12th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Actress Cherie Chung Chor-hung, once called the Marilyn Monroe of Hong Kong, was revered in the city’s entertainment scene during the 1980s for her talent, charm and beauty. At the age of 31 and at the peak of her career – she received three best actress nominations in the Hong Kong Film Awards for her roles in The Story of Woo Viet (1981), Hong Kong, Hong Kong (1983) and An Autumn’s... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3242260/cherie-chung-screen-goddess-marilyn-monroe-hong-kong-fans-said-how-she-retired-acting-height-her?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3242260/cherie-chung-screen-goddess-marilyn-monroe-hong-kong-fans-said-how-she-retired-acting-height-her?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Nov 2023 23:15:11 +0000 Anyone interested in the new Hong Kong cinema must have heard of the government’s much heralded First Feature Film Initiative (FFFI), launched in March 2013 to identify new talent and help finance their first feature films as directors. As this week marks the cinematic release of Time Still Turns the Pages and the festival premiere of Fly Me to the Moon, respectively the 14th and 15th completed titles in the FFFI pipeline, we look back at the scheme’s first decade of operation and evaluate how... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3241471/how-hong-kongs-first-feature-film-initiative-subsidies-helped-new-generation-directors-and-how-every?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3241471/how-hong-kongs-first-feature-film-initiative-subsidies-helped-new-generation-directors-and-how-every?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Nov 2023 03:15:09 +0000 4/5 stars A Hong Kong schoolboy’s year-long contemplation of whether to end his own life, and the impact this episode has in the following decades, form the dual narrative of Time Still Turns the Pages, a deeply poignant tale of emotional torture, regret and redemption via open, honest communication. First-time writer-director Nick Cheuk Yik-him was prompted to tackle the subject by a spate of youth suicides that made Hong Kong news headlines in 2015 – in reality, the problem has only worsened... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3241343/time-still-turns-pages-movie-review-hong-kong-family-drama-uses-student-suicides-cue-heart-wrenching?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3241343/time-still-turns-pages-movie-review-hong-kong-family-drama-uses-student-suicides-cue-heart-wrenching?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Nov 2023 04:45:14 +0000 Last week, news broke that celebrated Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien has been forced to retire from filmmaking because of his ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s disease. This means the director’s long-gestating project Shulan River, which looked set to reunite Hou with Shu Qi and Chang Chen, lead actors in several of his films, will no longer move forward. Born in Guangdong, southern China, in 1947, Hou emigrated to Taiwan with his family the following year. Widely regarded as the greatest... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3239791/ranked-10-best-films-taiwanese-director-hou-hsiao-hsien-who-retiring-because-alzheimers-millennium?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3239791/ranked-10-best-films-taiwanese-director-hou-hsiao-hsien-who-retiring-because-alzheimers-millennium?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2023 08:15:13 +0000 3/5 stars In the nine years since his last feature film, Hong Kong director Wong Ching-po has lost none of his affection for visually stylish crime thrillers championing losers and outcasts existing on the fringes of society. Nominated for seven prizes in the upcoming Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, The Pig, The Snake and the Pigeon is as slickly executed as anything in the director’s oeuvre, while presenting a sympathetic portrait of its narcissistic, morally reprehensible and gleefully... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3239622/pig-snake-and-pigeon-movie-review-taiwanese-crime-thriller-directed-hong-kongs-wong-ching-po?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3239622/pig-snake-and-pigeon-movie-review-taiwanese-crime-thriller-directed-hong-kongs-wong-ching-po?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Oct 2023 03:15:07 +0000 Hong Kong filmmakers continue to be amply represented at the Golden Horse Awards, a Taiwan showpiece film event entering its 60th edition that has – for the fifth year running – been boycotted by mainland Chinese authorities. Leading the Hong Kong contenders is first-time director Nick Cheuk Yik-him’s Time Still Turns The Pages, a socially conscious drama about family trauma and student suicides. The film is in the running for best narrative feature, as well as four other nominations that... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3236710/golden-horse-awards-2023-nominations-time-still-turns-pages-broad-daylight-lead-hong-kong-contenders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3236710/golden-horse-awards-2023-nominations-time-still-turns-pages-broad-daylight-lead-hong-kong-contenders?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Oct 2023 03:25:06 +0000 This is the sixth instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Carina Lau Ka-ling is a formidable Hong Kong actress whose popularity has stood the test of time. Her name is synonymous with style and a classy demeanour, and she is known for her numerous business ventures. Being one half of one of Hong Kong’s most beloved celebrity couples – her husband is Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Lau is also frequently seen arm in arm with her partner on red... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3232809/how-hong-kong-actress-carina-lau-rose-stardom-her-mainland-girl-roots-overcame-topless-photos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3232809/how-hong-kong-actress-carina-lau-rose-stardom-her-mainland-girl-roots-overcame-topless-photos?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Aug 2023 23:15:08 +0000 This is the fifth instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. From his beginnings as a dancer at television station TVB to becoming one of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop”, and an actor, Aaron Kwok Fu-shing is a Hong Kong icon. Kwok has captivated audiences across Asia and beyond with his charismatic stage presence, unforgettable dance moves and dedication to his craft as an actor. His superstar status is testament to his talent and hard... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3231232/aaron-kwok-dancer-singer-actor-husband-moka-fang-and-father-how-he-went-being-one-four-heavenly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3231232/aaron-kwok-dancer-singer-actor-husband-moka-fang-and-father-how-he-went-being-one-four-heavenly?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Aug 2023 23:15:10 +0000 3/5 stars Set within an indigenous Atayal household in a remote part of Taiwan, Gaga follows the struggles of three generations of the same family over the course of a single year, as they navigate daily hardships, family struggles and the creeping disappearance of their traditional way of life. Writer-director Laha Mebow was named best director at this year’s Golden Horse Awards for the film, which also won best supporting actress for Kagaw Piling. The family’s ageing patriarch (Wilang Noming)... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3210960/gaga-movie-review-taiwanese-family-drama-golden-horse-best-director-winner-offers-fascinating?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3210960/gaga-movie-review-taiwanese-family-drama-golden-horse-best-director-winner-offers-fascinating?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Feb 2023 04:45:09 +0000 3.5/5 stars The plight of Hong Kong’s working class during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic is poignantly dramatised in The Narrow Road, which sees a man and a woman, both financially stricken, form a bond that offers solace from their personal struggles – before threatening to tear them apart again. Louis Cheung Kai-chung plays Chak, the honest operator of a one-man cleaning business that is going south amid the stalling economy and dwindling supply of detergent. Though he barely has... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3203815/narrow-road-movie-review-louis-cheung-angela-yuen-shine-poignant-working-class-drama-set-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3203815/narrow-road-movie-review-louis-cheung-angela-yuen-shine-poignant-working-class-drama-set-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Dec 2022 09:15:11 +0000 Veteran Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong took top honours at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards Saturday while a Chinese short film won for the first time since Beijing shunned the event because of political tensions. Dubbed the Chinese-language Oscars, the Golden Horse awards took place for the fourth straight year without most of the Chinese and Hong Kong A-listers who used to walk the red carpet in Taipei. Beijing officially boycotted the event in 2019 after a Taiwanese director advocated for the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3200274/hong-kong-actor-anthony-wong-wins-top-prize-taiwans-golden-horse-film-awards?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3200274/hong-kong-actor-anthony-wong-wins-top-prize-taiwans-golden-horse-film-awards?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Nov 2022 21:58:05 +0000 When Southern Afternoon, a short film directed by Chinese filmmaker Lan Tian, was awarded the Sonje Award at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea on October 14, many thought China’s short-film industry had already had a good finish to the year. And then three days later, another Chinese short film, I Have No Legs, And I Must Run, by Li Yue, won the Short Film Award at the London Film Festival. It would appear that short films from China have been rushing to be crowned in recent... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3197810/chinas-young-short-film-directors-are-winning-awards-international-festivals-could-new-generation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3197810/chinas-young-short-film-directors-are-winning-awards-international-festivals-could-new-generation?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Oct 2022 23:15:12 +0000 Bullets ring out in a crowded night market in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, hitting random strangers. As shoppers flee, a journalist tackles the shooter, bringing him down. The aftermath of the incident, played out from various viewpoints, exposes deep fault lines in Taiwanese society. “I decided to depict a random killing after reading news articles about a similar occurrence in 2014,” says Lou Yi-an, director and co-writer of Goddamned Asura, which has been selected as Taiwan’s submission for the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3195536/how-goddamned-asura-taiwans-2023-oscar-hope-best?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3195536/how-goddamned-asura-taiwans-2023-oscar-hope-best?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Oct 2022 10:15:12 +0000 After dominating the Hong Kong Film Awards race with 14 nominations – and winning in four categories – earlier this year, Hong Kong crime thriller Limbo leads the field at the 59th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan with 14 nominations, including best film, best director, best actor (for Lam Ka-tung) and best actress (Cya Liu Ya-se). Soi Cheang Pou-soi’s acclaimed feature is followed by a pair of Taiwanese films – found-footage horror Incantation and family drama Coo-Coo 043 – both nominated in 13... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3194060/golden-horse-awards-2022-nominations-limbo-leads-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3194060/golden-horse-awards-2022-nominations-limbo-leads-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Sep 2022 03:36:47 +0000 The Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan is often referred to as the Oscars of Chinese-language films. The prestigious event is also an occasion for industry leaders in the region to showcase and celebrate their successes. Unfortunately, the event has become increasingly politicised in recent years, so much so that it has again prompted a Hong Kong film body to appeal to producers and others in the local industry to “think twice” about attending the coming ceremony. Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/3193765/taiwan-film-awards-political-minefield?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/3193765/taiwan-film-awards-political-minefield?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Sep 2022 15:47:56 +0000 An award-winning local animation production on the struggles of sexual minorities has been pulled from an independent film event after its directors declined to meet censors’ requirement and edit out a one-second scene portraying the 2014 Occupy protests in Hong Kong. Losing Sight of A Longed Place was supposed to be shown this coming Sunday afternoon at the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, as part of a film show organised by the Ground Up Film... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3188593/award-winning-animation-pulled-film-event-after-directors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3188593/award-winning-animation-pulled-film-event-after-directors?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Aug 2022 14:32:43 +0000 4/5 stars In Giddens Ko Ching-teng’s version of the afterlife, reincarnation isn’t just real, it’s an efficient way to avoid overcrowding in the underworld. But the recently deceased must have earned sufficient goodwill points on Earth to secure their return to the real world, or so it goes in Till We Meet Again, the latest genre-bending offering from the Taiwanese author turned filmmaker. Kai Ko Chen-tung, who previously starred in Giddens Ko’s blockbuster teen romance You Are the Apple of My... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3160399/till-we-meet-again-movie-review-taiwanese-fantasy-romance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3160399/till-we-meet-again-movie-review-taiwanese-fantasy-romance?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Dec 2021 09:45:20 +0000 3/5 stars Winner of five Golden Horse Awards, including best new performer for young star Caitlin Fang and best new director for Fiona Roan Feng-i, American Girl is the semi-autobiographical story of Lily (Karena Lam Ka-yan), who moves back to Taiwan from the United States with her two daughters after she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Told from the point of view of Lily’s elder daughter Fen (Fang), who had fully integrated into American society and now struggles to readjust to Taiwanese life,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3158628/american-girl-movie-review-karena-lam-caitlin-fang-play?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3158628/american-girl-movie-review-karena-lam-caitlin-fang-play?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Dec 2021 11:15:11 +0000 The belated release of the nomination list for this year’s Golden Rooster Awards, the most prominent film awards in China, has incurred the wrath and bemusement of some Chinese internet users, who complained that the preponderance of patriotic films among the nominees has damaged the credibility of the awards. The Golden Rooster Awards are set to be held from December 28 to 30 in Xiamen, in Fujian province. The awards are co-organised by China Film Association and China Federation of Literary... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3157970/golden-rooster-awards-2021-nominations-chinas-top-film?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3157970/golden-rooster-awards-2021-nominations-chinas-top-film?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Dec 2021 03:17:13 +0000 A film about the 2019 anti-government protests in Hong Kong which has not been screened locally won the prize for best documentary at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards on Saturday. Hong Kong director Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai’s 2½-hour documentary Revolution of Our Times, which takes its title from a widely used protest slogan, records how frontline demonstrators operated on the ground during months of unrest that became increasingly violent. Chow previously told the Post the film would not be screened in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3157631/hong-kong-film-2019-protests-wins-prize-best-documentary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3157631/hong-kong-film-2019-protests-wins-prize-best-documentary?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Nov 2021 16:33:03 +0000 Hong Kong poverty drama Drifting leads the field at the 57th Golden Horse Awards this year, with 12 nominations in categories that include best film, best director, best adapted screenplay, as well as acting nods for four of its actors (Francis Ng Chun-yu, Loletta Lee Lai-chun, Tse Kwan-ho and Will Or Wai-lam). Drifting is closely followed by three Taiwanese films – Cheng Wei-hao’s sci-fi thriller The Soul, Chung Mong-hong’s pandemic drama The Falls, and Giddens Ko’s fantasy romance Till We Meet... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3151328/golden-horse-awards-2021-nominations-hong-kong-film?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3151328/golden-horse-awards-2021-nominations-hong-kong-film?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Oct 2021 04:05:51 +0000 3.5/5 stars A divorced mother and her teenage daughter overcome their fraught relationship and rediscover their trust in each other in The Falls, filmed in 2020 during the Covid-19 outbreak in Taiwan. Chung Mong-hong’s follow-up to his multiple Golden Horse Award winner A Sun tells an unusually restrained domestic story, headed by two women – an anomaly for a filmmaker whose work displays an obsession with crime and criminals. The Falls pits its protagonists against both mental illness and the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3149000/toronto-2021-falls-movie-review-pandemic-drama-sun-director?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3149000/toronto-2021-falls-movie-review-pandemic-drama-sun-director?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Sep 2021 10:45:10 +0000 3/5 stars Fruit Chan meets Takashi Miike for Hand Rolled Cigarette – or so it must have felt to actor-turned-debutant-filmmaker Chan Kin-long when he decided to inject his history-minded, socially aware drama with an awkward dose of over-the-top gangland violence. The film was a nominee in seven categories at the 2020 Golden Horse Awards (including best picture), though its schizophrenic shifts in tone nevertheless reinforce the impression this is more style than substance. Riding a hot streak... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3137452/hand-rolled-cigarette-movie-review-lam-ka-tung-shines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3137452/hand-rolled-cigarette-movie-review-lam-ka-tung-shines?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jun 2021 09:15:00 +0000 2.5/5 stars The makers of The Way We Keep Dancing have their hearts in the right place, even if the movie about the plight of Hong Kong’s grass-roots performing artists is less an engrossing dramatisation of their stories than a needlessly bloated docudrama. The film does make a considered protest at the lack of support for Hong Kong’s creative industries, but any viewer expecting a competent follow-up to writer-director Adam Wong Sau-ping’s enthusiastic 2013 hit The Way We Dance – arguably the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3122233/way-we-keep-dancing-movie-review-adam-wongs-sequel-2013-hit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3122233/way-we-keep-dancing-movie-review-adam-wongs-sequel-2013-hit?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Feb 2021 11:10:11 +0000 3.5/5 stars Veteran actress Chen Shu-fang won two Golden Horse Awards last year: best supporting actress for Dear Tenant, and best actress for Joseph Hsu Chen-chieh’s Little Big Women, which received its world premiere last October at the Busan International Film Festival. In Hsu’s film, Chen plays the stubborn matriarch of a Taiwanese family, Lin Shaying, who is preparing to celebrate her 70th birthday when her estranged husband, absent for 20 years, dies suddenly. Shaying vows to host the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3120383/netflix-movie-review-little-big-women-taiwanese-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3120383/netflix-movie-review-little-big-women-taiwanese-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Feb 2021 11:15:15 +0000 Malaysian-Chinese film directors are earning award nominations at festivals around the world by depicting their country’s ethnic stereotypes, racial tensions and controversial history on the silver screen. The irony is that they often must do so in exile because in Malaysia their films are censored, if not banned, and misunderstood. “Malaysia’s historical and social context is full of taboos,” director Lau Kek-huat says in an interview with the Post. Lau moved to Taiwan to study cinema at 27,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3115574/malaysian-chinese-independent-filmmakers-lauded-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3115574/malaysian-chinese-independent-filmmakers-lauded-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Dec 2020 01:00:10 +0000 4/5 stars A romantic comedy for the Covid-19 era, I WeirDo is an unconventional love story about two lonely hearts who share an unhealthy aversion to the outside world. Shot on iPhones before the outbreak of the pandemic, Liao Ming-yi’s debut feature displays an uncanny prescience for our evolving attitudes towards public spaces, obsessive cleanliness, and physical intimacy. I WeirDo has been nominated for seven Golden Horse awards, including best actor, best actress, and best new director. The... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3110391/i-weirdo-movie-review-ocd-themed-taiwanese-romantic-comedy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3110391/i-weirdo-movie-review-ocd-themed-taiwanese-romantic-comedy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Nov 2020 10:49:45 +0000 3.5/5 stars The systemic abuse of deaf students at a remote special needs school provides the focus for Ko Chen-nien’s The Silent Forest, which is nominated in eight categories at this year’s Golden Horse Awards, a film festival in Taiwan known as the Oscars of Chinese-language cinema. Among the categories in which The Silent Forest is nominated are best new director, best original screenplay, best new performer for actress Buffy Chen Yan-fei, and best supporting actor for Korean-born Kim... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3110008/silent-forest-movie-review-powerful-sexual-abuse-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3110008/silent-forest-movie-review-powerful-sexual-abuse-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Nov 2020 08:37:23 +0000 3/5 stars Same-sex marriage was legalised in Taiwan in 2019, but the law still prohibits these couples adopting children, unless one of the parents is genetically related to the child. Cheng Yu-chieh’s drama Dear Tenant largely ignores these legal details in its story of a gay man fighting against the prejudices of his dead partner’s family and society in general. Strong performances and a propulsive commitment to highlighting injustice make for intermittently engaging viewing, but the nagging... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3109069/dear-tenant-movie-review-gay-man-suffers-taiwanese-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3109069/dear-tenant-movie-review-gay-man-suffers-taiwanese-family?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Nov 2020 08:40:12 +0000