23:29: Lin can’t help but promote the theatrical releases of all the nominated films at the very end, especially THE TERRORIZERS.

OK, and that’s another year for me. Thank you all for following along, and see you at the Hong Kong Film Awards next spring!

23:28: A reminder: Huang Jianye’s jury handed Chong Mong-hong his first Best Director award in 2010 for THE FOURTH PORTRAIT.

Chong Mong-hong: “I think this award tells me that I’ll be making films next year, and the next year, and the next and the next.”

23:27: Final recap:

Four awards for THE FALLS, three awards each for TILL WE MEET AGAIN, AMERICAN GIRL, and THE SOUL, and one award each for DRIFTING, DRIFTING PETALS, I MISSED YOU, NEZHA, TREAT OR TRICK, GODDAMNED ASURA, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES, THE MAGICAL TRACING, GOOD DAY and IN THEIR TEENS.

23:25: And the award for Best Narrative Feature goes to: THE FALLS, for its fourth award of the night.

23:24: Huang Jianye is DEFINITELY a Hongkonger. His Hong Kong accent is very, very strong.

23:23: Jury President Huang Jianye and Festival Chair Ang Lee presenting the night’s final award: Best Narrative Feature. Huang presented Lee with his first Golden Horse Award, the special jury award for PUSHING HANDS, which Lee jokingly calls the “consolation prize”.

23:22: Final prediction for Best Narrative Feature: AMERICAN GIRL over THE FALLS.

23:19: Time for the final, final award, Best Narrative Feature, after the commercial break.

23:16: Chang lost 12kg to play his role in THE SOUL. He says that it’s no big deal because it’s what an actor should do.

For what it’s worth, he trained so hard for THE GRANDMASTER that he won a martial arts competition with what he learned.

Chang also thanks Edward Yang, who cast him in his first role in A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY. Chang calls Yang his role model.

23:14: Chang thanks Wong Kar-wai because his company is Chang’s talent management agency.

23:12: And the Best Actor award goes to: Chang Chen for THE SOUL, the film’s third win.

This is Chang’s fourth nomination and first win. And the fangirl screams can be heard around the room.

23:09: Lee jokes that he’s still holding a grudge towards tonight’s nominees and goes into why each of the nominees won’t win because they’re not as good as his performance in NUMBER ONE.

Mark Lee: “I have to be careful about Francis Ng because DRIFTING is from my company MM2.”

23:08: Angelica Lee and Mark Lee (not related) now on stage to present Best Actor. Mark Lee, by the way, was nominated for Best Actor for NUMBER ONE. I have a DVD, but haven’t watched it yet.

23:06: Going back to Best Director award: DRIFTING PETALS by the way, marks Clara Law’s first win after four nominations.

23:02: Angelica Lee and Mark Lee will be on stage to present Best Actor…..after this commercial break as we head into hour 5.

Recap time: Three awards each for TILL WE MEET AGAIN, THE FALLS and AMERICAN GIRL, two awards for THE SOUL, and one award each for DRIFTING, DRIFTING PETALS, I MISSED YOU, NEZHA, TREAT OR TRICK, GODDAMNED ASURA, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES, THE MAGICAL TRACING, GOOD DAY and IN THEIR TEENS.

23:01: It’s not as good as A SUN, but I have a great deal of affection for THE FALLS. It’s Chung Mong-hong’s most tender film. A real stylistic shift for him.

23:00: Not for nothing, I had an inkling that Chia would win this after seeing THE FALLS. I hadn’t seen the other films at the time, but still.

22:59: And the award for Best Actress goes to: Alyssa Chia for THE FALLS, the film’s third award of the night.

22:56: Last year’s Best Actor and Best Actress winners Mo Zi-yi and Chen Shu-fang no onstage to present Best Actress together. Chen is in the very dress she wore to her double Golden Horse win last year.

22:55: Lin asks Chen for a hug, but for social distancing, he gives her a hugging pillow with him on it. He then passes it to all the Best Actress nominees.

22:52: Lin saves the best for last for Chen Shiang-chyi, winner of Best Actress at the 51st Golden Horse Awards. Chen is a highly respected actor and teacher in the industry.

22:50: Lin now goes to Caitlin Fang, asking her if she’d like to go on stage again. Fang nervously laughs and says that she’s already glad she got to go up once.

22:46: Here comes what is called the “death category” of the night: Best Actress. Only three films occupy the five nomination slots: AMERICAN GIRL, THE FALLS and INCREASING ECHO.

Austin Lin puts nominee Gingle Wang on the spot by asking who she thinks she win. She said her THE FALL mother, Alyssa Chia.

22:40: A friend just reminded me that jury president Huang Jianye is from Hong Kong. And that he is THE Edward Yang expert.

22:38: Law’s speech, given by a proxy, says that only audiences in Europe and Taiwan will see this film and that her hometown Hong Kong may never get to see this film.

22:37: Bai Ling for Best Presenter, hands down.

And the Best Director award goes to: Clara Law for DRIFTING PETALS. Here’s that left-field Huang Jianye win!

22:35: Bai Ling: “My birthday is on October 10th. I think I share a close destiny with Taiwan.” HOLY CRAP.

22:34: Bai Ling says that she cut her dress herself during quarantine.

OK, she’s here to present Best Director.

22:32: Bai is still going on about how she wrote her first Chinese script during quarantine and asks Ang Lee to be her producer. What award is her presenting again?

22:31: Bai talked about how her fans held a banner outside her quarantine hotel (which she posted on Instagram). She says, “Next time, I’ll come quarantine in Taiwan again.”

22:29: Did not notice that the back of Bai’s dress says “Bravery. Freedom.”

22:27: Bai Ling enters he stage to huge cheers. If there’s an award for Best Dress, this is it.

“Hello, I love you all.”

Bai Ling jokes about her award being “taken away” by Chen Shu-fang last year and being quarantined in the same hotel as Ang Lee.

22:26: Gingle Wang on the stage now to introduce Best Narrative Feature nominee THE FALLS.

22:24: It’s going to be one award per section as we enter the Big Four categories now.

So it’s a good time for another awards recap:

Three awards for TILL WE MEET AGAIN and AMERICAN GIRL, two awards for THE SOUL and THE FALLS, and one award each for DRIFTING, I MISSED YOU, NEZHA, TREAT OR TRICK, GODDAMNED ASURA, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES, THE MAGICAL TRACING, GOOD DAY and IN THEIR TEENS.

22:17: Lu stays on the stage to present Best Original Film Song. Are we going to see EggPlantEgg back on the stage?

And the Best Original Film Song goes to: “I Missed You” from I MISSED YOU. Eve Ai ends up getting her Golden Horse anyway!

Actually, Eve Ai’s performance is another good thing about the film. It’s an admirable effort for a debut film performance.

22:12: And the award for Best Original Film Score goes to: THE FALLS, for its second award of the night.

Winner Lu Luming won the Best Original Film Song award for DETENTION. This was his fourth nomination and first win in this category.

22:11: Crowd Lu, who won Best Original Film Song last year for performing the theme song of YOUR NAME ENGRAVED HEREIN, now on stage to present Best Original Film Score.

Lu performs a section of the SCHINDLER’S LIST theme by John Williams.

22:04: Eve Ai, who just lost out on the Best New Performer Award, now performs her nominated song from the film I MISSED YOU. Personally speaking, I think it’s the best thing from the film.

22:01: Heading into the fourth hour now as we come up on the two music awards, then finally the Big Four categories.

Update: Three awards for TILL WE MEET AGAIN and AMERICAN GIRL, two awards for THE SOUL, and one award each for THE FALLS, DRIFTING, NEZHA, TREAT OR TRICK, GODDAMNED ASURA, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES, THE MAGICAL TRACING, GOOD DAY and IN THEIR TEENS.

21:56: A commercial director all his life, Tsai has never won a Golden Horse Award, so this Lifetime Achievement Award is actually his first award.

Tsai Yang-ming’s son is Tsai Yueh-Hsun, the director of TV series BLACK AND WHITE and the two feature film spin-offs.

21:54: In addition to Chu, Hou Hsiao-hsien also worked on Tsai’s set. Jackie Chan has also been an action choreographer on his film. Wu Nien-jen was also a screenwriter for him.

21:53: Filmmaker Kevin Chu Yan-ping now on stage to present the second Lifetime Achievement Award of the night, for actor-director Tsai Yang-ming. Chu calls him his mentor and the “Godfather of Taiwanese gangster films”.

21:51: Roan thanks director Tom Lin, her producer on AMERICAN GIRL.

Aet in 2003, AMERICAN GIRL is a autobiographical tale about a teenage girl who has to move back to Taiwan with her sister and mother from the US when her mother is diagnosed with cancer.

21:50: And the Best New Director award goes to: Fiona Roan Feng-i for AMERICAN GIRL, its third award of the night.

This is paving the path for a major AMERICAN GIRL win.

21:48: Yang now presenting Best New Director, arguably the most competitive category of the night.

21:44: And the award for Best Live Action Short Film goes to: GOOD DAY by Zhang Zhi-teng.

Zhang was actually nominated for Best Cinematography for THANATOS, DRUNK.

This is sort of an upset, considering that nominee ALL THE CROWS IN THE WORLD won the short film Palme d’Or in Cannes.

21:43: Yang Kuei-mei on the stage now to present Best Live Action Short Film. Yang mentions that she just acted in her first short film and encourage people to support short films.

21:42: Lin Huei Min now introducing Best Narrative Feature nominee THE SOUL.

The clip ended with the camera operator catching a sly look from Chang Chen. Nice.

Lin was the young male lead in STARRY STARRY NIGHT. I feel old now.

21:37: Awards update: Three awards for TILL WE MEET AGAIN, two awards for THE SOUL and AMERICAN GIRL, and one award each for THE FALLS, DRIFTING, NEZHA, TREAT OR TRICK, GODDAMNED ASURA, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES, THE MAGICAL TRACING and IN THEIR TEENS.

21:34: Best Animated Short now. Nominee DEPTHS OF NIGHT, unfortunately, is virtually banned from screening in Hong Kong after it was unable to pass censorship in time for a local film festival a few weeks ago.

And the Best Animated Short award goes to: THE MAGICAL TRACING by Wu De-chuen.

21:33: Fang is only 15 years old. Whether AMERICAN GIRL gets more awards tonight or not, she is gonna have a long, long career ahead of her.

Wang: “She’s so cute. She reminds of myself from way back then.”

21:32: And the Best New Performer award goes to: Caitlin Fang for AMERICAN GIRL, its second award of the night.

Fang is also nominated for Best Actress tonight, so this is no surprise.

21:28: Kai Ko and Lotus Wang, who played his mother in YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE, on the stage now to co-present Best New Performer.

Ko won Best New Performer 10 years ago for YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE. Tonight, he is nominated for Best Actor for MONEYBOYS.

Wang: “To win Best New Performer, you’ll have to play my son. (lists out all these people who played her son and won awards) I’m a Golden Horse Mama.”

21:27: Giddens Ko has already posted a photo of him holding a Golden Horse Award trophy on Facebook. He borrowed it from the Best Visuall Effects winner.

21:25: Vivian Sung now on stage to introduce Best Narrative Feature nominee TILL WE MEET AGAIN.

21:20: Singer-songwriter Waa Wei, who was in THE FALLS, now on stage to perform a song about actors.

21:11: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that all the technical awards aside from the two music awards have been given out.

21:10: Recap for our third hour: Three awards for TILL WE MEET AGAIN, two awards for THE SOUL, and one award each for THE FALLS, DRIFTING, NEZHA, TREAT OR TRICK, AMERICAN GIRL, GODDAMNED ASURA, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES and IN THEIR TEENS.

21:08: Chen and Chuang presents their third award: Best Sound Effects.

And the award for Best Sound Effects goes to: TILL WE MEET AGAIN, for its third award of the night.

21:03: Co-recipient Chan Man-fai thanks his mentor, the late Blackie Ko.

21:01: Chen and Chuang now presenting Best Action Choreography.

And the Best Action Choreography award goes to: NEZHA, the racing film produced by Jay Chou.

21:00: Liu: “I was once a joker, and I can’t believe that I’ve joked all the way to an awards stage.”

20:59: Liu has been insanely prolific in the past two years. He’s certainly one of the best actors of his generation, funny as hell but also great at drama. He really deserves to be a superstar.

20:56: Liu Kuan-ting’s performance in TREAT OR TRICK looks freaking hilarious.

Also good to see Lung Shao-hua get a posthumous nomination for GATAO.

And the award for Best Supporting Actor goes to: Liu Kuan-ting for TREAT OR TRICK. This is Liu’s second win for Best Supporting Actor, after his first win with A SUN.

20:54: Chen Yi-wen and Kaiser Chuang now on stage to present three awards. First up: Best Supporting Actor.

20:52: Best Actress nominee Caitlin Fang now on stage to introduce Best Narrative Feature nominee AMERICAN GIRL. Her co-star, Karena Lam, is also nominated for Best Actress tonight.

20:49: Lin exits the stage to huge cheers and a standing ovation as we cut to another commercial break.

20:45: However, the montage points out that the 93-year-old Lin has never been onstage to accept his own Golden Horse Award. Tonight, he is the first cinematographer to win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Horse.

20:44: Lin helped bring color film into Taiwan cinema. He has worked on over 130 films over his career.

20:43: Quick recap during the montage:

Two awards each for ‘TIL WE MEET AGAIN and THE SOUL. One award each for THE FALLS, DRIFTING, AMERICAN GIRL, GODDAMNED ASURA, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES and IN THEIR TEENS.

20:42: Incoming Festival Chair Mark Lee Ping-bin on the stage now to present the first of two Lifetime Achievement Awards, for his mentor, cinematographer Lin Tsan-ting.

20:39: And the Best Cinematography award goes to: AMERICAN GIRL, for its first award of the night. This could be the start of a huge night for the film.

Winner, Greek cinematographer Giorgos Valsamis is not present due to work. He wrote down an English speech.

20:38: Nadou and Liu now presenting Best Cinematography. They joke about Chung Mong-hong being nominated under his real name for the first time (he used an alias before THE FALLS).

20:37: Overcome by emotions, Wang thanks her three cats and jokes that she’s losing track of what she’s saying.

20:35: This is Wang’s first major film role. She thanks her fellow nominees and jokes, “I’ve been watching you all since I was young.”

GODDAMNED ASURA is the latest film by director Lou Yi-an. It had its world premiere at the Golden Horse Film Festival. It’s set to be released in 2022.

20:34: Not having seen a few of the films in this category. I will not make any prediction.

And the Best Supporting Actress award goes to: Wang Yu-xuan for GODDAMNED ASURA.

20:32: Nadou and Liu Kuan-ting (Best Supporting Actor nominee tonight) on stage to present.

Nadou jokes that Liu got a Golden Horse Award before him, so that he should call Liu “Senpai”.

The two are here to present Best Supporting Actress.

20:30: For anthropology and cultural studies interest: EggPlantEgg sings in local Taiwanese dialect instead of Mandarin Chinese.

20:28: Mega-popular band EggPlantEgg now performing their theme song for MAN IN LOVE.

MAN IN LOVE director Yin Chen-hao directed a mega-hit trilogy EggPlantEgg’s music videos. I am not exaggerating to say that they have racked up over 100 million views on YouTube in total.

Their song is probably the favorite to win Best Original Song tonight.

20:22: Commercial break now, and it’s time to eat.

20:19: It’s the first Golden Horse win for all three winners for the film. Two of the nominees were also nominated for their work on THE SOUL.

20:18: And the Best Makeup & Costume Design award goes to: ‘TIL WE MEET AGAIN, for its second award of the night.

20:17: All the screams for THE SOUL is still kind of odd, really.

The winner thanks Ang Lee as well. They also worked on THE LIFE OF PI.

Anyway, Chen and Fan now presenting Best Makeup & Costume Design.

20:14: And the Best Art Direction award goes to: THE SOUL, for its second award of the night.

THE SOUL is a sci-fi tale set in a not-too-distant futuristic world, so it did involve lots of special effects and unique art direction.

20:12: Chen thanks his family, noting that filmmaking is often hardest on family members.

Best Art Direction award now, presented by past Best New Performer winners Chen Yen-fei and Fandy Fan.

20:10: Chen jokes that he has 90 minutes to give his speech, so he pulled out a list of people to thank.

20:09: Chen tells a story about working on Chung Mong-hong’s THE FALLS.

20:05: And now, the presentation of the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year award for Frank Chen, set designer.

Among the 2021 nominees alone, Chen worked on 9 films. He also worked on Ang Lee’s LIFE OF PI, which was shot partly in Taiwan.

20:02: I’m taking a much-needed break.

20:00: End of first hour. To recap, one award apiece for ‘TIL WE MEET AGAIN, THE SOUL, THE FALLS, DRIFTING, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES and IN THEIR TEENS.

My dinner has not arrived yet.

19:59: Spotted in the segment: Emi Wada, who passed away earlier this week. Dean Shek, Sonny Chiba, Liu Kai-chi, Ng Man-tat. And so many more.

19:56: On the stage is an empty chair for late legendary filmmaker Li Hsing, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 91. This leads into the In Memoriam segment.

Li has won the Golden Horse award three times and directed seven Best Narrative Feature winners. He is considered the “Godfather of Taiwan Cinema”

19:55: So this year’s Golden Horse final round jury includes directors Chen Yu-hsun, Yang Ya-che, and Arvin Chen. There’s also producer/actress Li Lieh, Best New Director winner Chong Keat Aun, as well as film critics and writers from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

19:52: Lin introduces the entire jury for the 58th Golden Horse Awards. I’ll go over the jury members in a bit.

And now, a performance of Stella Chang singing the theme song from the Sylvia Chang film PASSION.

19:50: REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES ended up topping the Golden Horse Film Festival’s audience poll, though AMERICAN GIRL ended up winning the festival’s audience award. I have no idea how that works, but it is what it is.

19:49: Another commercial break. And I have finally ordered my dinner.

19:48: Chow: “For friends who are still in Hong Kong, like myself, for those who are in exile or in jail, I pray that this film can offer a sense of comfort and an embrace to everyone.”

19:47: As I mentioned before in the preview post, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES can not be screened in Hong Kong.

19:45: Obviously director Kiwi Chow cannot be at the ceremony. They are now playing a recorded acceptance speech by Chow.

19:43: And now, it’s time for Best Documentary Feature. I have a feeling this is gonna be emotional for me.

And the Best Documentary Feature Award goes to…..REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES.

19:41: A production of Taiwan’s public television network PTS, IN THEIR TEENS is about a group of young people from the rural area of Yunlin.

19:40: Best Actress nominee Chen Shiang-chyi presenting Best Documentary Short Film, the first time this award has been given at the Golden Horse.

And the Best Documentary Short Film goes to: IN THEIR TEENS by Lin Yu-en.

19:38: DRIFTING actor Will Orr introducing DRIFTING now. Orr is nominated for Best Supporting Actor with his co-star Tse Kwan-ho tonight.

19:34: For those keeping track. It’s one award apiece for ‘TIL WE MEET AGAIN, THE SOUL, THE FALLS and DRIFTING so far.

19:33: Jun Li’s producers crack up as Jun switches to Cantonese half-way. He thanks his family, investor and producers as he starts breaking into tears.

Last year, BEYOND THE DREAM also won Best Adapted Screenplay. Go, Hong Kong!

19:31: DRIFTING is considered an adapted screenplay because it was based on Jun Li’s own reporting during his university days.

19:30: And now, we get to Best Adapted Screenplay. Lots of screams for anything related to THE SOUL. Is this the Chang Chen effect?

The Best Adapted Screenplay award goes to….DRIFTING!!!!!

19:28: Full disclosure: I subtitled Best Original Screenplay nominee COFFIN HOMES.

The Best Original Screenplay Award goes to: THE FALLS!

This is Chung’s 4th nomination for Best Original Screenplay, but only his first win.

19:26: I’m gonna have to spend most of the night looking up English names. Yikes.

Anyway, MAN IN LOVE co-stars Hsu Wei-ning and Best Supporting Actress nominee Chung Hsin-ling now presenting Best Original Screenplay.

19:24: Winner Shieh Meng-ju says that this was his 10th feature film. This was his second Golden Horse nomination and first Golden Horse win.

19:22: Chen and Wen now presenting Best Film Editing.

And the Best Film Editing award goes to: THE SOUL.

19:21: The winner hopes that the film will show the strength of Taiwan’s special effects industry. I haven’t seen the film, but it is a special effects-packed fantasy made entirely locally in Taiwan. That’s very difficult in an industry where romcoms dominate.

19:19: ‘TIL WE MEET AGAIN is the third directorial effort by novelist Giddens Ko. It’s nominated for 11 awards tonight.

19:17: Wen Chen-ling and Annie Chen – both nominees in the Best Supporting Actress category – presenting Best Visual Effects.

And the Best Visual Effects Awards go to….’TIL WE MEET AGAIN.

19:13: First commercial break means I can finally order my dinner.

In case you need it, the link to the livestream of the award ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzCg6uJ8A_I

19:12: Tonight’s jury is led by film scholar Huang Jianye, who was also the jury president in 2010 when they gave Chung Mong-hong his first Best Director prize. Considered a tad of a left-field choice at the time. A film blogger on Facebook predicts that Huang may have a similar surprise tonight.

The awards kick off with an excellent montage of nominated films – and a surprising amount of Cantonese curse words from the Hong Kong nominees.

19:09: Ang Lee is in the front row, of course. Next to him is renowned cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bin, who is taking over Lee’s role as Festival Chair starting next year.

I can’t believe Chang Chen showed up. For the past two years, actors who have prolific careers in Mainland China wouldn’t show up even when nominated.

19:08: Lin doing the typical introduction of nominees in the seats, throws in a quick promo for THE TERRORIZERS, currently playing in cinemas across Taiwan.

19:05: The short stars tonight’s host Austin Lin as an aspiring filmmaker who wants to meet Ang Lee. Ang Lee, the festival Chairman, shows up in the end, of course.

Don’t worry, I’m certain the short film will be on YouTube eventually.

Lin stars in Ho Wi-ding and Hu Chih-Hsin’s THE TERRORIZERS, which is nominated for 5 awards.

19:01: The Golden Horse Awards starting with a short film directed by Best New Director nominee/superstar music video director Yin Chen-hao (MAN IN LOVE), featuring many of this year’s nominees and last year’s winners.

18:59: Update: Bai Ling’s handbag says “My orgasms are very loud.”

18:57: Bai Ling after is gonna have the best dress of the night. Her dress says: “Be your most spectacular self”

18:54: Last year’s Best Actress/Best Support Actress winner Chen Shu-fang and Best Actor winner Morning Mo (both from DEAR TENANT) on the red carpet. They will be presenting awards tonight.

18:52: Welcome to the most low-tech awards live blog in the world! We’re at Asia In Cinema headquarters in Hong Kong, watching the show’s red carpet ceremony.

You know the drill: Just reload this post to see the latest updates from the award. The latest update will be at the top and time-coded. And you can interact on Twitter @AsiainCinema or @TheGoldenRock. Enjoy!

Now I gotta order my takeout.