Actress Kara Hui Photo: IC

Director Huang Hsin-yao Photo: IC

 

The 54th Golden Horse Awards were held in Taipei on Saturday.

The biggest prize of the night, Best Feature Film, went to the Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful, while actresses Kara Hui and Vicky Chen won Best Leading Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively for their roles in the film.

Comedy The Great Buddha +, directed by Taiwan's Huang Hsin-yao, became the top winner of the night by taking home five awards: Best New Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Film Score and Best Original Film Song.

Known for his documentaries, Huang created The Great Buddha + as an extension of his 2014 short film, which was also nominated at that year's Golden Horse Awards. The Great Buddha + presents the director's typical individual style of impressiveness and boldness, using different colors to express the striking wealth gap between characters.

Lin Sheng-xiang, the winner of the best score and best song categories, thanked his teacher, Lin Qiang, during his acceptance speech.

"I visited Lin when I took the job and I asked him to impart some useful experience and skills. The only thing he told me to do was to watch the movie. My voice this time represents what I saw in the film."

Best Director went to Vivian Qu, whose drama film Angels Wear White is considered one of the best movies of this year by Chinese audiences.

The youngest actress to ever win Best Supporting Actress, 14-year-old Vicky Chen, who was also nominated for best actress for her role in Angles Wear White, launched her acceptance speech with emotional tears, "I didn't prepare a speech, since winning was totally beyond my expectations. I'm just trying to control myself right now."

With five veteran performers vying for the same award, Best Leading Actor was probably the most competitive category of the night. In the end, as a result, the award went to 57-year-old Chinese mainland actor Tumen for his excellent performance in Old Beast. While the actor attributed his win to good luck, the jury called him "the spirit of the movie."

A total of 576 movies applied to compete in the Golden Horse Awards this year, 40 more films than last year.