While film industries aroundthe globe are busy selecting their foreign-language Oscar entries, the Chinesefilm awards season got underway this week with submissions for Taiwan's GoldenHorse, which claims to be the leading awards ceremony for Chinese-language film.

Reflecting what has been arelatively strong year for Chinese cinema, the submissions include severalhigh-profile titles from the region's top directors including Stephen Chow's KungFu Hustle, Stanley Kwan's Everlasting Regret, Tsui Hark's SevenSwords, Johnnie To's Election, Feng Xiaogang's A World WithoutThieves and Tsai Ming-liang's The Wayward Cloud.

The organisers of thetravelling event - the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee - havealso announced that this year's ceremony will be held in the north-eastern cityof Keelung on November 13. Keelung Citywill contribute $300,000 to the event with a further $450,000 coming from theGovernment Information Office (GIO).

Previous editions of theawards have been criticised for handing most of the prizes to Hong Kong ratherthan Taiwanese productions, which was difficult to avoid due to Taiwan'sdeclining production numbers.

However, the submissionsthis year also seem to reflect the Taiwanese film industry's rising fortunes. Ofthe 56 features that were submitted, 20 are Taiwanese productions and 20 arefrom Hong Kong. There are also seven Hong Kong-Chinaco-productions, four films from mainland China and three from Singapore.

The Golden Horse jury willbe unveiled tomorrow and the nominations shortlist will be announced on October18.

Politics continues to affectthe event. Yesterday, mainland production company Guangdong Song Zude pulledits entry Eyes Of Heaven, explaining that Chinese officials had informedthem that only Hong Kong-China co-productions are officially cleared forsubmission. Last year's best film award winner, Lu Chuan's Kekexili, was a co-production between China and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, mainland China's majorfilm awards, the Golden Roosters, which also shifts dates and locations, willthis year be held in Sanya in south China's Hainan province on November 12.

The awards usually onlyrecognise mainland filmmakers and actors but this year have been opened totalent from Hong Kong and Taiwan for the first time.

Both the Golden Horse andGolden Rooster awards are held concurrently with a film festival. The Golden Roosterand Hundred Flowers Film Festival will run from November 9-12 in Sanya. TheGolden Horse Film Festival will be based at the Warner Village multiplex in Taipei's fashionable Hsinyi district from November 4-17 forthe third year running before touring nationwide.

Another major Chinese filmawards ceremony, the Hong Kong Film Awards, will be held in Hong Kong on April8, 2006, just ahead of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (April 4-19).Traditionally, the awards only recognise talent from Hong Kong.