Sabu’s Arrested Memory and Shu Qi’s Girl have emerged as the frontrunners of the 63rd Golden Horse Awards with 11 and 10 nominations respectively.
Arrested Memory is a Taiwan-set, Chinese-language action comedy by Japanese director Sabu, which premiered at Venice before playing Toronto. Girl is the directorial feature debut of actress-turned-filmmaker Shu Qi, which bowed in Competition at Venice 2025.
They are followed by Joseph Hsu Chen-chieh’s Lunar New Year hit Double Happiness and Hong Kong scriptwriter-turned-director Yeung Leung-chuen’s We Are Born Good, which recently premiered at Toronto - both with nine nods apiece.
Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers, which played in Competition at the Berlinale and is Singapore’s entry to the Oscars, has seven nominations.
All five face-off in the best film race as well as in best director, except for Girl and We Are Born Good, which are running for best new director.
This year’s nominations spotlight many talents beyond Taiwan. The remaining two best director contenders are Hong Kong veteran Herman Yau for LGBTQ+ drama We’re Nothing At All and Malaysia’s Edmund Yeo for The Age Of Goodbyes, which premiered in Toronto and will open the upcoming Golden Horse Film Festival.
Hong Kong’s Yeung Wai-lun from We Are Born Good and Malaysia’s Jack Tan from Dead Tide are vying for best actor against Arrested Memory’s Ethan Juan, Double Happiness’ Liu Kuan-ting and Kung Fu’s Leon Dai, all from Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Lunar New Year release Kung Fu has secured eight nominations, mostly in the technical categories such as best visual effects.
None of the best actress contenders are from Taiwan. Three represent the next generation of Hong Kong talents, including Angela Yuen for Afterpiece, which opened Shanghai in June; Jennifer Yu for Double Happiness; and Chung Suet-ying (winner of Golden Horse best actress for 2024’s The Way We Talk) for We Are Born Good. Rounding out the category are mainland Chinese actress Liang Cuishan for Big Little Things, and Malaysia-born Singapore actress – and two-time Golden Horse winner – Yeo Yann Yann for We Are All Strangers.
Lesbian drama Big Little Things, which premiered at Venice, has received four nominations, which also includes best new director and best adapted screenplay for director Michelle Zhou.
In addition to the seven nods for We Are All Strangers, Singapore cinema has a strong presence through Ang Geck Geck Priscilla’s Ah Girl and Annecy-winning The Violinist by Ervin Han and Raul Garcia, which each landed three nods. They include best new director, best new performer for nine-year-old Ong Xuan Jing and best adapted screenplay for Ah Girl; and best animated feature, best adapted screenplay and best original film score for The Violinist.
The nominations were announced today (October 1) by last year’s Golden Horse best new performer winner Ma Shih-yuan and fellow nominee Jimmy Liu.
Wen Tien-hsiang, CEO of Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival executive committee, announced that the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year is Moya Chou, who has worked in colour grading for nearly three decades from the film era to digital medium. His works include many Golden Horse winners such as Dear Ex, The Soul, The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon, and A Foggy Tale. His recent films include The Age Of Goodbyes, Sayang, and The Photo From 1977, all among this year’s nominees.
This year’s awards received 587 submissions, including 92 narrative features, three animation features, 60 documentary features, 294 live action short films, 71 documentary short films and 67 animated short films.
The event operates a three-stage voting procedures, from preliminary to nomination and final. The final winners will be voted on the day of the awards ceremony, November 22.
All nominated films will be screened at the Golden Horse Film Festival, which runs from November 6-22 in Taipei.
Golden Horse 2026 Nominations
Best Narrative Feature
- Girl
- Double Happiness
- We Are Born Good
- Arrested Memory
- We Are All Strangers
Best Director
- Herman Yau, We’re Nothing At All
- Edmund Yeo, The Age Of Goodbyes
- Joseph Hsu Chen-Chieh, Double Happiness
- Sabu, Arrested Memory
- Anthony Chen, We Are All Strangers
Best New Director
- Shu Qi, Girl
- Priscilla Ang Geck-Geck, Ah Girl
- Shieh Meng-Ju, Mudborn
- Michelle Zhou, Big Little Things
- Yeung Leung-Chuen, We Are Born Good
Best Leading Actor
- Leon Dai, Kung Fu
- Liu Kuan-Ting, Double Happiness
- Yeung Wai-Lun, We Are Born Good
- Ethan Juan, Arrested Memory
- Jack Tan, Dead Tide
Best Leading Actress
- Angela Yuen, Afterpiece
- Jennifer Yu, Double Happiness
- Liang Cuishan, Big Little Things
- Chung Suet-Ying, We Are Born Good
- Yeo Yann-Yann, We Are All Strangers
Best Supporting Actor
- Anson Kong Ip-Sang, We’re Nothing At All
- Berant Zhu, Kung Fu
- Tin Kai-Man, Double Happiness
- Akira Huang, Arrested Memory
- Andi Lim, We Are All Strangers
Best Supporting Actress
- Audrey Lin, Girl
- Mhia Firdaus, Sayang
- Sun Jialing, Big Little Things
- Judy Ongg, Sunshine Women’s Choir
- Kearen Pang, We Are Born Good
Best New Performer
- Bai Xiao-Ying, Girl
- Ong Xuan-Jing, Ah Girl
- Nandagopall Mohan, Sayang
- Ho Man-Xi, Sunshine Women’s Choir
- Jaden Wang, Will You Still Be My Friend
Best Original Screenplay
- Keane T.K Wong, Afterpiece
- Kwok Ka-Hei, Jack Lee Chun-Kit, Ho Siu-Hong, Choi Ka-Hang, Unidentified Murder
- Tang Hsiang-Chu, Sayang
- Hsieh Pei-Ju, Joseph Hsu Chen-Chieh, Double Happiness
- Yeung Leung-Chuen, Thomas, We Are Born Good
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Ervin Han, Jordan Katherine See, The Violinist
- Priscilla Ang Geck-Geck, Ah Girl
- Edmund Yeo, The Age Of Goodbyes
- Michelle Zhou, Big Little Things
- Lu Po-Shun, Chen Chia-Ping, Will You Still Be My Friend
Best Cinematography
- Yu Jing-Pin, Girl
- Chen Chi-Wen, The Age Of Goodbyes
- Chen Ko-Chin, Double Happiness
- Jai Ip, Arrested Memory
- Kartik Vijay, Dead Tide
Best Documentary Feature
- The Dance Of A Soloist, Lee Li-Shao
- The Whisper Of Sunlight, Wong Siu-Pong
- Scenes From Departure, Chan Kam-Hei
- Almost Home, Jiang Wenjie
- Etude, Lin Yu-En
Best Animated Feature
- Magic Atlas, Sun Xun
- Welcome To Dolly’s House, Seven Ych, Rady Fu, Liu Yu-Shu
- The Violinist, Ervin Han, Raúl García
Best Visual Effects
- Archin Yen, Chen Yen-Ping, Tseng Huai-Ju, Wayne Tseng, Kung Fu
- Tomi Kuo, Ivan Lin, Hannah Han, Sayang
- Archin Yen, Mudborn
- Evan Wen, Hu Hong-Yu, Woody Yeh, Sean Tsai, The Photo From 1977
- Vt Chiew, Maxine Y.M. Tung, Xander Guo, Huang Min-Pin, Sinisusu Tua Pucumayan The Last Hunter
Best Art Direction
- Huang Mei-Ching, Tu Shuo-Feng, Girl
- Wang Chih-Cheng, Yang Ya-Chun, Eitzel Chang, Kung Fu
- Ray Tan, The Age Of Goodbyes
- Chen Po-Jen, Arrested Memory
- Soon Yong-Chow, Dead Tide
Best Makeup & Costume Design
- Hsu Li-Wen, Girl
- Karen Yip, Hsiao Pai-Chen, Liu Hsien-Chia, Kung Fu
- Dora Ng, Kim Ng, We Are Born Good
- Zoey Su, Emma Lin Yu-Yun, Arrested Memory
- Irin Lee, Red Ngoh, We Are All Strangers
Best Action Choreography
- Teddy Ray Huang, Dead End
- Chang Jae-Wook, Kim Kyoung-Woo, Kung Fu
- Hung Shih-Hao, Mudborn
- Hung Shih-Hao, Fan Keng-Hua, Chen Ming-You, Arrested Memory
Best Film Editing
- William Chang Suk-Ping, Lai Kwun-Tung, Girl
- Chen Chun-Hung, Double Happiness
- Wenders Li, We Are Born Good
- Matthieu Laclau, Arrested Memory
- Chen Ho-Ping, We Are All Strangers
Best Sound Effects
- Wu Shu-Yao, Tu Duu-Chih, Tang Hsiang-Chu, Girl
- Eddie Huang Nien-Yung, Chen Yi-Ling, Wang Tzu-Jou、羅頌策lo Song-Ce, The Canary’s Lullaby
- R.T Kao, Lee Yu-Chih, Yang Jia-Shen, Chen Jia-Li, Kung Fu
- Wu Shu-Yao, Hsu Chiao-Han, Liu Pei-Min, Sayang
- Patrick Tu, Tu Duu-Chih, Arrested Memory
Best Original Film Score
- Ricky Ho, Isabel Latorre Sáez, The Violinist
- Lim Giong, Girl
- Chris Hou, Sherwin Yang, Emma Kao, William Huang, Kung Fu
- Kin Leonn, Thomas Foguenne, We Are All Strangers
- Katayama Ryota, Dead Tide
Best Original Film Song
- Everything’s Gonna Be Alright, Double Happiness
- Happiness Is Singing, Sunshine Women’s Choir
- We Are Born Good, We Are Born Good
- Stop Running, Arrested Memory
- Gone With The Tide, Dead Tide
Best Live Action Short Film
- The Last Jiangshi, Yu Chih-Chieh
- She Said, Ivan Tan
- Three Little Pigs, Chung Kam-Nei
- Fruit, Lim Jen-Nee
- Her Slope, Kuo Pei-Chi
Best Documentary Short Film
- Myanmar Girls, Flora Huang Ling-Hwa
- The Paperflower Still Blooms, Yeh Chih-Fang
- Night Journey, Tsai Ming-Liang
- Amateur In The Moon, Huang Pang-Chuan, Lin Chun-Ni
- A Farewell To Julieta, Lei Cheok-Mei
Best Animated Short Film
- Stacy, Lin Yi-Ling
- Deep End, Zhang Puzhen
- You Are Not Part Of The Cake, Chen Ting-Jui
- The Buried Baby, Fish Wang, Yang Ya-Ting
- Bowknot, Li Yizhou
Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker Of The Year
Moya Chou
Lifetime Achievement Award
Yu Kan-Ping
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