It’s that time of year for Oscar’s equally shiny cousin, The Golden Horse, to ride into town. All bad imagery aside, The Golden Horse Awards is Taiwan’s annual salute to all that is fabulous in Chinese cinema. It’s no surprise that this year’s leader at the ceremony is Ang Lee for his skintillating drama, Lust, Caution. However, it’s not just this film that has some eyebrows raised, two other lesser known films have also caused this flaxen stallion to become rattled. The films in question, Wang Quan An’s Tuya’s Marriage and Yang Li’s Blind Mountain, were shortlisted for honors at this year’s ceremony, but have been pulled at the last moment due to a political game of he said, she said. Like the best guests on trashy talk show, The Maury Povich Show, China was like “Taiwan, I’m yo’ baby daddy, you do what I say in my house!” In response, Taiwan screamed “Nuh uh, talk to the hand, and let the paternity test prove it!!!” Naturally, the world is still waiting…….
With the jury still out on the paternity test and with the epic stand off between China and Taiwan showing no signs of abatement, interactions between the two are often shaded by varying levels of antagonism. Unfortunately, The Golden Horse, even though it honors all Chinese cinema, has found its’ hand forced by the Beijing government. Both Tuya’s Marriage and Blind Mountain are not entitled to compete for an award because the movies were fully produced in the mainland. According to the International Herald Tribune, “The two films violated Chinese government policy banning films with exclusive mainland investment from competing at the Taiwanese event, a Chinese film official said Tuesday”. Moreover, some in Beijing fear that by allowing these fully mainland funded films to participate, in what is essentially a Taiwanese event, may give Taiwan what it wants most: international recognition as an independent state. P.R.C. films that are partially produced in partnerships with non-mainland companies(even those done in conjunction with Taiwanese production houses) are allowed to compete. How do the people behind these films feel about the move? Like us, everyone wants to know what the DNA tests will prove, and, until that day, we just have to be patient and optimistic. As the director of Blind Mountain puts it, “he regretted not being able to compete in Taiwan” but “he expects China to relax its restrictions gradually.”
Image: Yang Li’s Blind Mountain
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