Leon Dai’s No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti was the big winner at the close of the Taipei Film Festival on Saturday night, winning four prizes including best film, best actor and supporting actor and the media choice award.

The film, which premiered at Rotterdam this year, stars Chen Win-pin who is also the producer and co-wrote the script with the film’s director Leon Dai. Best supporting actor honours went to Lin Chih-ju, who is also a director with credits including award-winning drama The Wall.

Cheng Yu-chieh’s Yang Yang, which premiered at Berlin, was another big winner, taking best actress for Sandrine Pinna’s performance, best music and the special jury prize. A Place Of One’s Own also took three prizes including best supporting actress, best production design and the audience award.

Chung Mong-hong scooped best director and best script for Un Certain Regard 2008 title Parking, which also took best new talent for Tseng Pei-yu.

Doze Chen-Zer Niu was awarded a cash prize of $21,000 (NT$700,000) towards his next film, gangster movie Mangka, which was deemed to be the most creative project. Niu made his feature debut with political satire What On Earth Have I Done Wrong?! in 2007.

Earlier in the festival, Steve Jacobs’ Disgrace won the top prize in the New Talent Competition, which is open to non-Taiwanese films. Chung Mong-hong’s Parking took the special jury prize while three films won special mentions – Sebastian Silva’s The Maid (Chile), Takatsugu Naito’s The Dark Harbour (Japan) and Yang Ik-june’s Breathless (Korea).

TaipeiAward 2009:

Best film: No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti – dir: Leon Dai

Special jury prize: Yang Yang – dir: Cheng Yu-chieh

Best director: Chung Mong-hong – Parking

Best script: Chung Mong-hong – Parking

Best actor: Chen Wen-pin – No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti

Best actress: Sandrine Pinna – Yang Yang

Best supporting actor: Lin Chih-ju – No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti

Best supporting actress: Lu Yi-ching – A Place Of One’s Own

Best new talent: Tseng Pei-yu – Parking

Best editing: William Chang Suk-ping – Miao Miao

Best cinematography: Kwan Pung-leung – Miao Miao

Best production design: A Place Of One’s Own

Best music: Yang Yang

Best documentary: Yellow Sheep River – dir: Liu Soung

Best narrative short: Panic House – dir: Lai Meng-jie

Best animation short: Ketchup – dir: Lu Wen-chung

Audience Award: A Place Of One’s Own – dir: Lou Yi-an

Media Choice Award: No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti – dir: Leon Dai

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