Note: Asia in Cinema will hold its annual Golden Horse Awards Live Blog on Saturday, November 17th, starting at 7 pm Taiwan time. 

See a full list of this year’s Golden Horse nominees here

Read our incoherent opinion on this year’s nominations here

I’ve spent the past week here in Taipei at the Golden Horse Festival, which means I’m now caught up on most of the nominees at this year’s Golden Horse Awards. After seven weeks of waiting, the annual celebration of Chinese cinema is finally happening this week, and I can at least say that this year has a very strong line-up of Chinese films (not Chinese-language films).

I won’t analyze this year’s nominations again nor make predictions in this entry, but the Chinese nominees are so solid that no one is calling a clear front-runner (Dear Ex is still leading the audience polling at the festival at the time this is written, but I call home field advantage). Ignore the Gong Li gossip while you’re at it.

However, I will be making predictions during the Live Blog, but I can predict a general pattern: Last year, Taiwanese cinema had its day in the sun, but Chinese cinema will be striking back strong. Well, except in the Best New Actor category, because all the nominees are Taiwanese.

I can also tell you what to expect at this year’s award ceremony. First, Melody Tao will be back to host for the 6th time. Director Yang Ya-che’s Golden Horse ad makes fun of this:

Ang Lee, the new chairperson of the awards, has been making the rounds at the festival all week, and he’ll likely appear on stage at least once at the ceremony, as camera/media-shy as he often appears to be.

There will be performances by Eason Chan and Karen Mok, both of which will likely be too long.

Despite not being nominated this year, Andy Lau, Shu Qi and Chang Chen are among the presenters expected to appear on Saturday.

A local video streaming service will be showing the awards at selected 7-11 branches in Taiwan. I, however, will be watching and reporting from my hotel room.

Everyone else overseas may not be able to access the award ceremony so easily, but regions with the Star Chinese Movie channel will be able to see it live. If the network isn’t available where you are, be sure to follow our Live Blog on Saturday night!