Chewing Gum, the upcoming feature directorial debut of Taiwan’s Lee Yi-shan, has won the NT$1m ($31,600) grand prize at the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion (FPP) project market.
It was one of 17 awards announced at a ceremony that marked the end of this year’s FPP, which focuses on Chinese-language projects and ran from November 20-22 at the Grand Hyatt Taipei in Taiwan.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Chewing Gum centres on a young boxer from the lower rungs of society who redefines herself through the struggles of her spiritual journey. The grand prize was presented by a jury comprising Jeffrey Chan, Chen Yi-wen and Winnie Tsang who praised the project for “its wonderful character depictions, including their relationships, attitudes and various aspects of their lives, which feel absurd but also very real”.
Writer-director Lee previously won the Golden Horse best live action short film award for Babes’ Not Alone in 2017.
Chewing Gum was also one of three projects that received the TAICCA Original Award, which has increased each cash prize to NT$600,000 ($19,000) this year in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Golden Horse Awards. The other two winning projects were Tsai Yi-fen’s Little Lover and Kao Huai-ju’s My Phoenix Sister.
Mini-series Before We Were Monsters scooped two prizes: the Glory Creative Series Award and Judicial Creative Series Award. It is adapted from the debut novel by Katniss Hsiao and executive produced by Lin Shih-ken, who is set to receive the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year award at the Golden Horse Awards on Saturday (November 25).
This year’s FPP was attended by nearly 600 film and audiovisual industry professionals. A total of 1,727 meetings took place, setting a new record. Some 64 projects were showcased including 39 films, 18 series and seven work-in-progress titles. Several are international co-productions, reflecting the ongoing trend of cross-country collaborations.
A string of new awards was added this year, including Judicial Creative Series Award, Netflix Emerging Storyteller Award, Activator Market Potential Award and Hua Yi Pictures Award.
Golden Horse FPP 2023 winners
Film Projects
Grand Prize (NT$1m)
Chewing Gum
Dir/Wri LEE Yi-shan
EP HO Ping
Pros LIN Yu-yeh, KUO Ming-jung
Prodcos The Handyman Ltd., Island X Pictures Co., Ltd.
CNC Cash Award (€8,000)
Endless Tenderness
Dir/Wri Rita HUI Nga-shu
Pro Peter YAM
Prodco 70 Plus Production Company Limited
Taipei Golden Creativity Award (NT$600,000)
That Burning House
Dir/Wri TSAI Yin-chuan
EPs Isaac LI, LEE Yi-fang
Pro Eric YEH
Prodco The Movie Bird Films
TAICCA Original Award (NT$600,000 each)
Little Lover
Dir TSAI Yi-fen
Wri TSAI Yi-fen, CHEN Cheng-yu
EPs CHANG Chia-lu, CHANG Feng-mei
Pro Sylvia SHIH Yea-chun
Prodco Even Pictures
My Phoenix Sister
Dir KAO Huai-ju
Wri WENG Chih-ching, KAO Huai-ju
EP CHEN Yu-hsun
Pros HSIEH Chun-yao, Fenda LYN
Prodco JL 19films
Chewing Gum
Dir/Wri LEE Yi-shan
EP HO Ping
Pros LIN Yu-yeh, KUO Ming-jung
Prodcos The Handyman Ltd., Island X Pictures Co., Ltd.
FPP Visionary Award ($12,000)
A Woman Builds
Dirs/Wri HUANG Ji, OTSUKA Ryuji
Pros OTSUKA Ryuji, KUO Ming-jung, Fran BORGIA
Prodcos Island X Pictures Co., Ltd., YGP-FILM LLC, Akanga Film Asia
Hakka Creative Award (NT$400,000)
Mindgration
Dir NG Ka-leung
Wri/Pro Felix TSANG
Prodco Haven Productions Ltd.
Hua Yi Pictures Award (NT$300,000)
Anomalies
Dir If CHEN
Wri YEH Nai-ching
Pros Cody HUANG, Jasmine PARK
Prodco Type·Writers Co., Ltd.
Genesis Wave Film Creative Award (NT$500,000 cash / NT$1m in-kind post-production and visual effect service)
Grandma Loves You
Dir/Wri FAN Chung-chi
EP CHANG Ning
Pro TSAI Jia-yin
Prodco Tua-Tshut Films Ltd.
Works in Progress
Taipei New Horizon Screenplay Award (NT$400,000)
Pierce
Dir/Wri Nelicia LOW
Pros Sam CHUA Weishi, Jeremy CHUA, Patrick Mao HUANG, John M LO, Izabela IGEL
Prodcos Potocol, Flash Forward Entertainment, Harine Films
Activator Market Potential Award (NT$300,000 in-kind digital marketing)
Hearing from the Dolphin
Dir/Wri ZHANG Hong-jie
EP HUNG Chun-hsiu
Pro TING Chung-ying
Prodco Ruddy Production Co., Ltd.
Series
Netflix Emerging Storyteller Award (NT$500,000)
It’s Showtime!
Pros JIN Pai-lunn / Wri WU Yi-chien / Dir YIN Chen-hao / Prodco Calendar Studios Co., Ltd.
MyVideo Creative Series Award (NT$300,000)
N.Y.E. Rhapsodies
Pros CHEN Lin-shur, Joy CHIOU
Wri LIEN Chun-chien, Pohan LEE, Jade LIEN
Dir LIEN Chun-chien
Prodco Dottodot Ltd.
Catchplay International Spotlight Award (NT$300,000)
The Fixers
Pros Benjamin LIN, Cora YIM
Wri SHIH Hong-ru
Dir HUNG Tzu-hsuan
Prodco Calfilms Asia Ltd.
Glory Creative Series Award (NT$300,000)
Before We Were Monsters
Pros LIN Shih-ken, LIN I-ling, HSIAO Wei-hsuan
Wri LIAO Hung-hsing
Prodco Outland Film Production
Judicial Creative Series Award (NT$350,000)
Before We Were Monsters
Pros LIN Shih-ken, LIN I-ling, HSIAO Wei-hsuan
Wri LIAO Hung-hsing
Prodco Outland Film Production
No comments yet