Spanish Film Wins Golden Horse Award!

The Golden Horse Awards, one of the premier film awards for Chinese films, were held on November 29 in Taipei. Best film went to the favourite, the oddly-titled No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (不能沒有你). Based on a true story, the film is about an unemployed single father who battles the authorities in his quest to provide a good education for his daughter. The low budget black and white film set in Kaohsiung has already won several awards on the festival circuit.

No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti's director Leon Dai (戴立忍) was also awarded Best Director at the ceremony. It's just the second directorial effort by the popular actor turned director. Altogether No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti won five awards (incidentally the Spanish title was used because an English tranlation, I Can't Live Without You, sounded too much like a bad pop song).

Best Actor award was shared between two vastly different performances: Nick Cheung (张家辉, pinyin: Zhāng Jiāhuì) as a sympathetic villain in the thriller The Beast Stalker, and Huang Bo (黄渤) in the comedy Cow. Cheung earlier this month was named Best Actor at the Mingpao Awards, and back in April won at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In contrast to Cheung's 20-year career, Bo is a relative newcomer who first garnered public attention with his supporting role in the 2006 comic hit Crazy Stone.

The Best Actress award was won by Li Bingbing (李冰冰) for her role as an intelligence officer in the spy thriller set during the Japanese occupation, The Message. Although the 36 year old actor has won awards before, most recently a Huabiao award two years ago for The Knot, her performance in The Message has been hailed as the best of her career.

The Supporting Actor award was given to veteran Wang Xueqi for his role as an ageing opera star in Forever Enthralled. Another industry veteran, Hong Kong actress Wai Ying Hung won Best Supporting Actress for At the End of Daybreak in which she played the mother of an accused rapist.

A full list of the award winners as well as all the nominees can be found at Asianfanatics.net