Welcome once again to the internet’s most low-tech film awards live blog! The most recent update will be on top (all timestamped), and you just have to keep reloading the post to see what’s happening. Enjoy the night!

23:47: Anyway, that’s it for me tonight. I’ve been sitting for nearly five hours.

On a personal note, I don’t know how many of these award blogs I can do. There are only a few people following every year, and I can only make my wife watch me do these so many times.

But thank you all for following another year, and good night!

23:45: Huang Ji makes a point to thank her partner-in-crime and her husband Ryota Otsuka and points out how small their productions are. She also thanks all the master directors that came before them and her parents for cooking, housing them and acting. Liao Ching-sung jumps in and said the most people he saw on set were only five people.

23:41: STONEWALLING is officially marked as a Japanese production, but it was made in China. This is the first Mainland China production to win Best Film at the Golden Horse since THE ELEPHANT SITTING STILL in 2018. But like ELEPHANT, I don’t think STONEWALLING will get an official release in Mainland China.

Final recap: Four awards for OLD FOX, two awards each for EYE OF THE STORM, STONEWALLING and DAY OFF. One award each for ABANG ADIK, TROUBLE GIRL, MARRY MY DEAD BODY, THE MOUNTAIN IS COMING, FLY ME TO THE MOON, THE PIG, THE SNAKE AND THE PIEGON, MONSOON BLUE, FISH MEMORIES, SNOW IN MIDSUMMER, THE MEMO, BEFORE THE BOX GETS EMPTIED, YOUTH (SPRING) and PIGSY.

23:40. Mark Lee says let’s cut the BS, so we’re off.

Best Narrative Feature goes to: STONEWALLING.

Told you.

23:38: Finally, the final award of the night. Golden Horse Chairman Mark Lee Ping-bing and Jury President Ang Lee now take the stage to announce Best Film.

23:36: I haven’t seen two of the five nominated films, so I can’t predict who will win Best Film. But judging from the results tonight, who can?

23:32: Wu Kang-ren is pure class. This guy is only going to do bigger and better things in the future. Hell, he’ll probably win for FLY ME TO THE MOON at the Hong Kong Film Awards next March.

23:30: ABANG ADIK director Jin Ong is in tears as Wu thanks him for giving a Taiwanese actor a chance to play this character. He also thanks Angelica Lee, the producer of the film.

23:28: Here we go. Best Actor goes to: Wu Kang-ren for ABANG ADIK!

This is Wu’s first Best Actor nomination and his first win. A well-deserved one, too.

23:24: Chang gives a shout-out to Cheng Wei-hao for his ceremony opening film. She says that it wasn’t easy for Golden Horse to get to its 60th and asks for a round of applause for everyone involved with the awards.

23:23: Chang congratulates Yakusho on his Cannes win. Yakusho goes for a high-difficulty greeting not in Mandarin, but in Taiwanese. He knows his audience.

23:22: Best Actor is the most watched award of the night because of the star wattage and that all five actors hail from Taiwan. So this should be interesting.

Lulu walks up to Ethan Ruan and jokes that he has to get rid of his four rivals to win (a nod to his nominated film).

Sylvia Chang and Koji Yakusho now take the stage to present Best Actor.

23:16: Up next is Best Actor. I’m rooting for Wu Kang-ren, but this jury is not going with popular consensus this year, so it’s probably gonna be someone else. That would make ABANG ADIK the biggest snub of the night.

23:12: This Golden Horse jury is not messing around. But in true Golden Horse tradition, they will probably give the Best Film award to something that has won nothing else (think COO-COO 043 last year).

I take that back: All five Best Film nominee has already won an award tonight, but only EYE OF THE STORM has won more than one.

23:11: Chen Shu-fang jokes whether Lin falsely reported her age.

I did see TROUBLE GIRL at the festival. Lin convincing plays a girl with ADHD in a difficult performance in a difficult film. A great performance, but wow. Lu Hsiao-fen was a favorite to win.

23:10: Best Actress goes to: Audrey Lin for TROUBLE GIRL.

Twelve-year-old Lin is the youngest Best Actress winner of the Golden Horse.

23:05: Chen Shu-fang had trouble reading one of the nominees’ names and jokes that it was rehearsed. She’s a treasure.

23:04: Previous Best Actress winners Chen Shu-fang, Chen Shiang-Chyi, Angelica Lee, Hsieh Ying-xuan and Gwei Lun-mei take the stage together to present the Best Actress award. Not sure only this award is getting this special treatment.

23:03: We go into the fifth hour with a long montage. Y’know, one of those that are shown during a big birthday.

22:53: Lin loses her composure and laughs when she jokes about William Chang turning her into a lady before going back into the speech.

22:51: Lin gives a considered, well-rehearsed speech thanking her parents, talking about getting scouted, being in a hundred films. This is posh, perfectly-paced delivery.

22:50: And a raptuous welcome for the goddess herself, who takes the stage in a stunning red dress.

22:49: Lin says that if she didn’t become an actress, she would be the owner of a dumpling restauant. Yes, cue montage of her throwing dumplings into a pot.

22:48: The long video montage includes actual interview footage with Lin, who, by the way, flew to Taiwan on private jet.

22:44: Ang Lee now onstage to introduce Brigitte Lin. He talks about being her fan and getting shy just talking about her.

I was thinking why Ang Lee, someone who has never directed Lin in a film, is the one to introduce her, but I can’t think of anyone who is allowed to attend the Golden Horse that has the gravitas to take this job. So the Godfather of Taiwanese cinema it is.

22:41: OLD FOX is done for the night, winning four out of its seven nominations. Up next is Brigitte Lin’s Lifetime Achievement Award, followed by the three remaining major prizes: Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Film.

22:36: Time for another recap: Four awards for OLD FOX, two awards each for EYE OF THE STORM and DAY OFF. One award each for STONEWALLING, MARRY MY DEAD BODY, THE MOUNTAIN IS COMING, FLY ME TO THE MOON, THE PIG, THE SNAKE AND THE PIEGON, MONSOON BLUE, FISH MEMORIES, SNOW IN MIDSUMMER, THE MEMO, BEFORE THE BOX GETS EMPTIED, YOUTH (SPRING) and PIGSY.

22:34: Best Director goes to: Hsiao Ya-chuan for OLD FOX, for its fourth award.

Lee jumps in to shakes Hsiao’s hand first.

So is this the jury’s way of saying that OLD FOX should’ve been nominated for Best Film?

22:33: Lee says that he has been making films outside of the Greater China region all year, suggesting directors in the audience to give him work.

I think Wong Ching-po isn’t even in the audience, by the way.

22:32: And it’s time for Best Director. Four of the five nominees are first-time nominees in the category.

22:30: Lee Kang-sheng jokes that Tsai Ming-liang is taking his time to get to the ceremony and won’t get there ’til tomorrow morning.

Best Documentary goes to: Wang Bing’s YOUTH (SPRING). Wang is at Tokyo Filmex, so his producer is there to accept on his behalf.

22:27: Lee Kang-sheng and Yang Kuei-mei now onstage to present Best Documentary and Best Director. First up is Best Documentary.

Look at that list of directors in the category: Ann Hui, Tsai Ming-liang, Midi Z, Wang Bing. This is insane.

22:22: As you can tell from the recap below, this is another Golden Horse of no clear front-runners, once again proving that getting the most nominations hardly means anything at the Golden Horse. Neither of three films with the most awards right now is nominated for Best Film.

22:18: Sung and Ko now present Best Original Film Score.

By the way: If Chris Hou wins, he’d be the winner of a Golden Melody, Golden Bell and Golden Horse – all three Taiwanese “Golden” awards.

Best Original Film Score goes to: OLD FOX, making Hou a “Three Gold” winner! Also, this is the third award for OLD FOX.

22:16: Best Original Film Song goes to: DAY OFF, for its second award of the night. Director Fu Tien-yu accepts the award and thanks Wu Nien-jen for his Taiwanese lyrics.

22:14: MISS SHAMPOO co-stars Ko Chen-tung and Vivian Sung present the two music awards, stating with Best Original Film Song.

22:11: The performance ends with Coco Lee and a section of her CROUCHING TIGER theme song in the end.

22:06: Hu Nai-yuan and his TC Ensemble perform for the In Mermoriam segment.

22:01: As we head into the fourth hour, another recap: Two awards each for OLD FOX and EYE OF THE STORM. One award each for STONEWALLING, MARRY MY DEAD BODY, THE MOUNTAIN IS COMING, FLY ME TO THE MOON, THE PIG, THE SNAKE AND THE PIEGON, MONSOON BLUE, FISH MEMORIES, DAY OFF, SNOW IN MIDSUMMER, THE MEMO, BEFORE THE BOX GETS EMPTIED and PIGSY.

21:59: Best Documentary Short goes to: THE MEMO. A film about the COVID lockdown of Shanghai in 2022.

21:55: Best Live-Action Short Film goes to: Hong Kong’s BEFORE THE BOX GETS EMPTIED.

The film won two awards at the Fresh Wave Short Film Festival. Nervous, director Ho Sze-wai switches to Cantonese as she lists the people she thanks.

21:54: Gingle Wang and Berant Chu now present the two short film awards.

21:53: Lin ends his speech with a shout-out for WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN, which is still playing in Taiwanese cinema. A true professional, indeed.

21:50: From that video clip, it seems like Lin Shih-ken has literally worked with all the major young directors in Taiwan. He worked on at least two nominated films this year alone.

21:46: Lin is not the kind of producer who fires directors; he’s the down-and-dirty line producer who handles budgets, handles all the teams of a film and gets productions finished.

21:45: Cheng also mentions that Lin even loaned him money when he ran into financial difficulties.

21:44: Directors Yang Ya-che and Cheng Yu-chieh now onstage to present the Outstanding Taiwanese Flmmaker of the Year award to their line producer, Lin Shih-ken. They talk about being pulled aside by Lin with the words, “I’m sorry.”

21:43: Lulu walks up to the front row to speak to Ang Lee and thanks him for his service. He also thanks the Golden Horse in return.

21:42: Lulu reveals that jury deliberations by the 17-member jury didn’t start until 8 AM this morning and went on until just before the award ceremony.

21:41: Lulu steps in to tell the film professionals in the audience to give themselves a round of applause, followed by an introduction of the jury led by Ang Lee.

21:39: We have seven awards and two achievement awards left to go, so I’d say we’re only halfway into the night so far.

21:34: Singer-songwriter Crowd Lu now performs a medley of previously nominated Best Film Song nominees. Including the song from DUST OF ANGELS performed by Hou Hsiao-hsien and Lim Giong.

21:27: STONEWALLING co-director and co-editor Ryuji Otsuka finally take the stage. He tears up as he talks about working with Liao

21:24: Liao said that he got his first GH nomination over 40 years ago. Imagine waiting this long for the first win.

Liao jokes that he’s taking so long because he is giving 13 awards’ worth of speeches. He says that Hou Hsiao-hsien always shakes his head at him every time he lost out on an award.

21:23: Time for the next award. Best Editing goes to: STONEWALLING.

This is Taiwan editing legend Liao Ching-song’s first Golden Horse win after 12 nominations. There is a huge standing ovation for him.

21:21: A visbily surprised Fang ends with “DAD, I WON AN AWARD!”

21:18: All the nominated performances are great, but I thought Eugenie Liu’s performance in OLD FOX and Rachel Leung’s in IN BROAD DAYLIGHT are the most revelatory.

Best Supporting Actress goes to: Beatrice Fang for DAY OFF. This is so out of left field that we should all be lucky no one bets on these things. I enjoyed DAY OFF. I just don’t think anyone saw this coming.

21:15: Chang Chen and Satoshi Tsumabuki now onstage to present Best Supporting Actress and Best Editing.

21:12: That may have been the longest Golden Horse lifetime achievement speech in years. Let’s see if Brigitte Lin will go longer.

21:03: As we go into the third hour, another recap: Two awards each for OLD FOX and EYE OF THE STORM. One award each for MARRY MY DEAD BODY, THE MOUNTAIN IS COMING, FLY ME TO THE MOON, THE PIG, THE SNAKE AND THE PIEGON, MONSOON BLUE, FISH MEMORIES, SNOW IN MIDSUMMER and PIGSY.

21:01: Chen says that the statue is a little heavy and asks his granddaughter to take it. He jokes that she can use it as her dowry.

20:59: Chen Kun-hou takes the stage to an enthusiastic standing ovation, but the bigger response will obviously go to the other Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Brigitte Lin.

20:53: Actress Yang Chieh-mei (who starred in a few of Chen’s film) and Jiing Yng-Ruey present the award to Chen.

20:50: Time for the Lifetime Achievement Award for director Chen Kun-hou, the only winner of both Best Cinematography and Best Director.

I watched his 1985 classic film HIS MATRIMONY at the festival this year. That won Best Cinematography.

20:49: Time for Best Cinematography.

Best Cinematograhy goes to: FISH MEMORIES. More like Best Color Timing, amirite?

Winner Yu Jinping hugs the two presenters and rushes off the stage.

20:46: Chen: “I’ve always believed that Taiwan has the best film professionals around.” Then he goes into a humorous speech about how each team does that their job.

OLD FOX has four great performances, and as great as he is, Chen isn’t even the best of the four. I’m really happy for him.

He ends his speech thanking “the two guys smoking and talking in front of the monitor on set: The director and the producer.”

20:45: I’m surprised that Bowie Lam is the only one who didn’t show up.

Best Supporting Actor goes to: Akio Chen for OLD FOX, for the film’s second award of the night.

20:43: If for nothing else, Golden Horse has the clout to get big Asian cinema names like these. Koji Yakusho will be presenting an award later tonight as well.

20:40: Hikari Mitsushima and Greg Hsu now onstage to present Best Supporting Actor and Best Cinematography.

20:34: Co-writer Wu Chin-jung makes a passionate speech. Director Cheng Wei-hao thanks his producer and girlfriend Jin Bailun.

Jin’s company also produced blockbuster MAN IN LOVE last year, making her the most successful Taiwanese film producer in recent years.

20:32: And now time for Best Adapted Screenplay. MARRY MY DEAD BODY is counted as adapted because there is an existing previous draft.

Best Adapted Screenplay goes to: MARRY MY DEAD BODY!

This is kind of a surprise in the face of all those personal indie films, but as a commercial film that juggles so many genres in one, MARRY is a hell of an achievement.

20:30: I saw THE MOUNTAIN IS COMING here at the festival. The copy is obviously unfinished, and it’s possible that it will be only time that it’s publicly screened. The screenplay win is the only win that makes sense for this film, in my opinion.

20:29: Best Original Screenplay goes to: THE MOUNTAIN IS COMING. Unfortunately, writer-director Sun Jie is not here, which will only add to the rumors of why Sun has been absent from festival activities all week, despite having reportedly made it to Taiwan.

20:28: Lin: “Ann, which do you prefer, an adapted screenplay or an original screenplay?”

Hui: “Original, because I always get bashed when I shoot an adapted screenplay.”

I haven’t seen STONEWALLING and TIME TURNS STILL THE PAGES, so no prediction.

20:27: Ann Hui and Austin Lin now onstage to present tonight’s two screenplay awards.

20:22: OLD FOX co-winner Wang Chih-cheng jokes that he should not be winning this because his full-time job is art direction.

20:21: Best Makeup and Costume Design goes to: OLD FOX!

20:20: And now, it’s time for Best Makeup and Costume Design. I’ve actually seen all five films in the category, and I found OLD FOX’s recreation of the 1980s most impressive.

20:15: And Best Art Direction goes to: EYE OF THE STORM, for its second award of the night.

20:14: Hong Kong’s Will Orr and Taiwan’s Wang Yu-xuan now on stage to present Best Art Direction and Best Makeup and Costume Design.

20:13: Turns out it’s a medley of the three nominated songs, ending with Wan Fang’s song for SNOW IN MIDSUMMER.

20:03: And now, the performance of the Best Original Film Song nominee from ABANG ADIK, performed by RYOTA (Ryota Katayama).

We are only getting three of the five nominated songs performed tonight, with Jolin Tsai’s song from MARRY MY DEAD BODY and Power Station’s song from OLD FOX missing.

20:01: I need a dinner break. I’ll be right back.

20:00: As the first hour ends, one award each for SNOW IN MIDSUMMER, EYE OF THE STORM, FLY ME TO THE MOON, PIGSY, THE PIG, THE SNAKE AND THE PIGEON, MONSOON BLUE and TIME TURNS STILL THE PAGES.

19:59: SNOW is nominated for a total of nine awards. Let’s see if this is the beginning of a very good night or something else.

19:56: And now, Best Sound Effects, which includes Tu Duu-chih’s historic 41st nomination.

Best Sound Effects goes to: SNOW IN MIDSUMMER, for Tu’s, er, I’ve lost count how many he’s won.

I just counted 12 Golden Horse wins for Tu, but I’m expecting someone to correct me.

19:54: The impressive VFX reel for EYE OF THE STORM, in case you missed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBks6Hn0Lz4

19:51: It’s pretty funny that EYE OF THE STORM pulls off a David Fincher in recreating a quaratined hospital, and TROUBLE GIRL got nominated for…an owl.

No surprise, Best Visual Effects goes to: EYE OF THE STORM.

19:50: Lau’s first Taiwanese production TROUBLE GIRL is one of the four Best Visual Effects nominee.

19:49: Hong Kong’s Terrance Lau and Taiwan’s Fandy Fan now up to present Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects.

Lau introduces himself as “Hong Kong’s Fandy Fan” and Fan introduces himself as vice versa because of their resemblance to each other.

19:46: And the Best New Performer award goes to: Yoyo Tse for FLY ME TO THE MOON.

FLY is also nominated for Best Original Screenplay tonight. Tse plays the teenage version of the main character.

19:43: Chen Yi-wen and Best Actor nominee Ethan Ruan now on stage to present Best New Performer.

Chen makes a reference to his cult leader character in THE PIG, THE SNAKE AND THE PIGEON by whipping acting lessons into Ruan.

He also tells Ruan not to leave in the middle – a hilarious reference to Ruan’s leaving in the middle of Golden Horse 50, notoriously missing the big group photo of all the past award winners.

19:41: Looking back on Cheuk’s acceptance speech, he added that making the film gave him depression, and he thanked his girlfriend for helping him get out of it.

19:40: The star-studded opening video that kicked off the show tonight is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAuIbxIqFo

Commercial break time.

19:39: On a personal note: I did try to get a ticket to the world premiere of PIGSY, but it sold out very quickly. It’s set for release in Taiwan next year.

19:36: And now, the only nominee of the Best Animated Feature category: PIGSY. Apparently, that does not guarantee it an award.

But of course, the Best Animated Feature goes to: PIGSY.

19:34: All three awards of the night have gone to films by Hong Kong filmmakers (though THE PIG… is a fully Taiwanese production)

19:33: And The Best Animated Short goes to: MONSOON BLUE.

19:32: Winner Hung Shih-hao was nominated also for MARRY MY DEAD BODY and MISS SHAMPOO, but he won for the right film. Hung is easily the best action choreographer working in Taiwanese cinema right now.

19:30: And the Best Action Choreography goes to: THE PIG, THE SNAKE AND THE PIGEON, which is the most sensible choice.

19:29: Hong Kong’s Angela Yuen and Taiwan’s Liu Kuan-ting now take the stage to present a total of three awards: Best Action Choreography, Best Animated Short and Best Animated Film (which only has, er, one nominee).

19:27: Cheuk makes a point to thank his producer Derek Yee and especially his girlfriend.

19:26: And the Best New Director award goes to: Nick Cheuk for TIME TURNS STILL THE PAGES.

TIME is the latest release from the Hong Kong government-funded First Feature Film Initative. It’s also nominated for four other awards tonight.

19:24: I haven’t seen all the films in the category (Have not seen LOVE IS A GUN), but this is probably one of the more competitive categories of the night.

Anyway, Lin got Kitano to say “jia you”, which is a phrase of encouragement in Mandarin.

19:22: Kitano introduces himself as Akira – the name of Lin’s husband. Except no one got the joke because the subtitles were mistimed.

19:21: Takeshi Kitano and Lin Chi-ling take the stage to present the first award of the night: Best New Director.

19:20: The camera turns to TIME TURNS STILL THE PAGES director Nick Cheuk, who was awkwardly revealed by Hong Kong media today to be the son of former police officer and current Hong Kong government’s Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Warner Cheuk.

19:18: Lulu starts with a fairly respectful and lighthearted monolgue, introducing the guests and nominees in the audience. We don’t do roasts here at Asian film award ceremonies.

19:14: We are NOT going host-less tonight. Lulu – or real name Huang Lu Tzu Yin – takes the stage now.

19:11: I’ve been Taiwan for the past 10 days, watching 30 films at the Golden Horse Film Festival. And now they’re showing many of the same ads that I’ve watched 30 times this past week on TV.

19:10: As the award hits its 60th year, this is certainly the most party-like opening I’ve seen in a while. We’re in our first commercial break now, with Takeshi Kitano set to present the first award soon. I need to wash my face.

19:08: Like the Holy Trinity of Taiwanese cinema, Sylvia Chang, Mark Lee Pin-bing and Ang Lee take the stage to kick off the ceremony.

19:07: Tsai Ming-liang makes an appearance at the end of the sketch, revealing that this is the full version of this year’s star-studded Golden Horse ad, directed by Cheng Wei-hao, the director of nominee MARRY MY DEAD BODY.

This exteneded version ends with Golden Horse Chairman Mark Lee Ping-bin and of course jury president Ang Lee.

I’ll look for it on YouTube later.

19:02: Welcome to the 60th Golden Horse Awards and our annual live blog! We’re coming to you live from inside a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan with takeout food and a fairly large TV, just the way we prefer to watch the award ceremony.

The ceremony is starting with a funny Oscar-style parody sketch that has so far included references to A SON, LITTLE BIG WOMEN, GODSPEED and others.