‘A Foggy Tale’, ‘Left-Handed Girl’ lead Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards nominations

Chen Yu-hsun’s historical drama A Foggy Tale and Shih-Ching Tsou’s Cannes-winning Left-Handed Girl lead the nominations for the 62nd Golden Horse Awards, with 11 and nine nods respectively, while mainland Chinese star Fan Bingbing is up for best actress for Chong Keat-aun’s Mother Bhumi.

All three films are nominated for best film alongside Lau Kek-huat’s Malaysia-set drama The Waves Will Carry Us and Berlinale LGBTQ+ title Queerpanorama by Hong Kong’s Jun Li.

A Foggy Tale is set in the era of Taiwan’s White Terror and follows the journey of a young girl from Chiayi City who travels to the north to reclaim the remains of her brother. Left-Handed Girl is about a single mother and her two daughters who open a stand in a Taipei night market. It is produced, edited and co-written by Sean Baker, the US filmmaker who won the Cannes Palme d’Or with Anora and six Oscars. Mother Bhumi stars Fan as a widow who works the fields by day and uses magic to save villagers by night, while learning the truth behind her husband’s death.

The best film contenders (except Left-Handed Girl) are also up against each other for the best director prize, which also includes Tsao Shih-han’s feature debut Before The Bright Day. Left-Handed Girl’s Tsou is nominated in the best new director category.

For best actor, Hong Kong’s Will Or from A Foggy Tale and Singapore’s Richie Koh from A Good Child are pitted against Chang Chen from Cannes title Lucky Lu, Lan Wei-hua from Family Matters and Chang hsiao-chuan from Deep Quiet Room.

Family Matters has scored eight nominations, including five acting nods and best new director for Pan Ke-yin, while Deep Quiet Room is recognised with seven nominations, including three acting nods and best new director for Shen Ko-shang. The latter feature won Hidden Dragons best film and best actor for Chang at China’s Pingyao film festival earlier this week.

Fan from Malaysian drama Mother Bhumi and previous Golden Horse winner Caitlin Fang from A Foggy Tale are in the best actress race, alongside Rene Liu from Unexpected Courage, Ariel Lin from Deep Quiet Room and Alexia Kao from Family Matters.

Two Malaysian productions stand out this year. Mother Bhumi, which will world premiere in Tokyo’s main competition, and The Waves Will Carry Us have scored eight and seven nominations respectively.

Hong Kong dominates the best animated feature category, with Another World and A Mighty Adventure - both from the territory - as the only entries.

The nominations were announced on October 1. Some 593 submissions were received, including 80 narrative features, three animation features and 64 documentary features.

The voting procedure involve three stages: preliminary, nomination and final. The final voting for the winners will be carried out on the day of the awards ceremony on November 22. The jury lineup will be announced in late October.

Golden Horse Awards 2025 nominations

Best Narrative Feature

• A Foggy Tale
• The Waves Will Carry Us
• Left-Handed Girl
• Queerpanorama
• Mother Bhumi

Best Director

• Chen Yu-Hsun, A Foggy Tale
• Tsao Shih-Han, Before The Bright Day
• Lau Kek-Huat, The Waves Will Carry Us
• Jun Li, Queerpanorama
• Chong Keat-Aun, Mother Bhumi

Best New Director

• Shen Ko-Shang, Deep Quiet Room
• Lloyd Lee Choi, Lucky Lu
• Tsou Shih-Ching, Left-Handed Girl
• Pan Ke-Yin, Family Matters
• Tan Si-You, Amoeba

Best Leading Actor

• Richie Koh, A Good Child
• Will Or, A Foggy Tale
• Chang Hsiao-Chuan, Deep Quiet Room
• Chang Chen, Lucky Lu
• Lan Wei-Hua, Family Matters

Best Leading Actress

• Caitlin Fang, A Foggy Tale
• René Liu, Unexpected Courage
• Ariel Lin, Deep Quiet Room
• Alexia Kao, Family Matters
• Fan Bingbing, Mother Bhumi

Best Supporting Actor

• King Shih-Chieh, Deep Quiet Room
• Huang Teng-Hui, Left-Handed Girl
• Tseng Jing-Hua, Family Matters
• Yao Chun-Yao, Family Matters
• Anthony Wong, Finch & Midland

Best Supporting Actress

• Vera Chen, The Waves Will Carry Us
• Janel Tsai, Left-Handed Girl
• Nina Ye, Left-Handed Girl
• Queena Huang, Family Matters
• Elizabeth Tang Tao, Girlfriends

Best New Performer

• Rosen, Marching Boys
• Jimmy Liu, Blind Love
• Ma Shih-Yuan, Left-Handed Girl
• Jayden Cheung, Queerpanorama
• Lin I-Ting, A Dance With Rainbows

Best Original Screenplay

• Chen Yu-Hsun, A Foggy Tale
• Lau Kek-Huat, The Waves Will Carry Us
• Tsou Shih-Ching, Sean Baker, Left-Handed Girl
• Zhuo Kailuo, Poor Taxi
• Jun Li, Queerpanorama

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Polly Yeung, Another World
• Lu Hsin-Chih, Shen Ko-Shang, Deep Quiet Room
• Lloyd Lee Choi, Lucky Lu
• Pan Ke-Yin, Family Matters
• Marilyn Fu, Rosemead

Best Cinematography

• Chen Ta-Pu, Deep Quiet Room
• Norm Li, Lucky Lu
• Chen Ko-Chin, Kao Tzu-Hao, Left-Handed Girl
• Jimmy Wong, 96 Minutes
• Leung Ming-Kai, Mother Bhumi

Best Documentary Feature

• Always, Chen Deming
• Island Of The Winds, Hsu Ya-Ting
• Daughter Of Nectar, Huang Pang-Chuan, Lin Chun-Ni
• When The Spring Rain Falls, Sylvia Feng
• Palimpsest: The Story Of A Name, Mary Stephen

Best Animated Feature

• Another World, Tommy Ng Kai-Chung
• A Mighty Adventure, Toe Yuen

Best Visual Effects

• Terence Neoh, Kento Wong Kee-Yen, Jothan Chin Vun-Zed, Chan Chooi-Kun, A Mighty Adventure
• Tomi Kuo, Hulk Chen, A Foggy Tale
• Evan Wen, Lin Wei-Hung, Hu Hong-Yu, Fu Wan-Ting, 96 Minutes
• Chan Tze-Him, Road To Vendetta

Best Art Direction

• Wang Chih-Cheng, You Li-Wun, A Foggy Tale
• Penny Tsai Pei-Ling, Deep Quiet Room
• Chang Yi-Feng, Yuan Xiao-Fan, Before The Bright Day
• Simon So Kwok-Ho, 96 Minutes
• Yan Sin-Yeung, Yoshimoto Yukihito, Road To Vendetta

Best Makeup & Costume Design

• Shahreens, Dollei Seah, A Good Child
• Hsu Li-Wen, A Foggy Tale
• Zheng Yu-Pei, Before The Bright Day
• Elaine Ng, Gary Chan, Kate Kua, Daphne Wong, Mother Bhumi
• Giselle Fok Hio-Tong, Kato Miyuki, Road To Vendetta

Best Action Choreography

• Hung Shih-Hao, Damien Fan, Marching Boys
• Hung Shih-Hao, 96 Minutes
• Ken Law, Good Game
• Teddy Ray Huang, Chen Chia-Ling, A Dance With Rainbows
• Sakamoto Koichi, Road To Vendetta

Best Film Editing

• Mary Stephen, Palimpsest: The Story Of A Name
• Lai Hsiu-Hsiung, A Foggy Tale
• Sean Baker, Left-Handed Girl
• Horse Stone, Queerpanorama
• Du Guangwei, 1 Girl Infinite

Best Sound Effects

• R.T Kao, Dave Cheung, Sammi Lin, A Mighty Adventure
• Book Chien, Tang Hsiang-Chu, A Foggy Tale
• Chen Wei-Liang, Narubett Peamyai, Elwin T., 96 Minutes
• Tu Duu-Chih, Fiona Chang, Chen Kuan-Ting, Mother Bhumi
• Lai Chi-Hung, Road To Vendetta

Best Original Film Score

• Chou Li-Ting,Cmgroovy, Vicky Fung, Another World
• Wang Yu-Jun, Yannick Dauby, Daughter Of Nectar
• Charles Humenry, Lucky Lu
• Thomas Foguenne, The Waves Will Carry Us
• Yii Kah-Hoe, Chong Keat-Aun, Mother Bhumi

Best Original Film Song

•  A Foggy Midnight, A Foggy Tale
•  Wooden Man, Poor Taxi
•  Blessed In The Wind, Family Matters
•  Bhujanga, Mother Bhumi
•  Ture Colors - Lovers, Lovesick

Best Live Action Short Film

• This Is Not My Cow, Lin Chih-Wen
• Green Lake, Zhu Linwei
• Knee-Jerk, Wang Pennram
• Pile On, Hu Lu
• Nervous Energy, Eve Liu

Best Documentary Short Film

• The Tales Of The Tale, Song Cheng-Ying, Hu Chin-Ya
• Where’d My Brother Go?, Chen Jun-Wei
• Beyond 93 Letters, Lin Yu-En, Liu Yen-Mei
• The Long Departure, Jiang Xuannian, Ji Hang
• Fragments Of Herstory, Hsu Hui-Ju

Best Animated Short Film

• Goodbye Waves, Yang Ruihan
• 91 Times Smash, Yang Yuxin
• Praying Mantis, Joe Hsieh
• Force Times Displacement, Angel Wu
• Rocked By The Wind, Huang Hsiao-Shan

Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker Of The Year

Joy Chung

Lifetime Achievement Award

Chen Shu-Fang

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