Malaysia's Chong Keat Aun wins Best New Director at Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan

Malaysian director Chong Keat-aun of 'The Story of Southern Islet' poses with his Best New Director award at the 57th Golden Horse Awards in Taipei. Photo: Reuters

Malaysian filmmaking talent did the country proud at ​​​​the 57th Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, Taiwan last night.

Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun bagged the Best New Director award for his film The Story of Southern Islet, a film inspired by a true incident that happened in the 1980s at Kedah's Gunung Keriang.

The film, which was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, is about a desperate wife who goes on a journey to find a remedy for her husband, who fell sick after a row with a neighbour. Along the way, she endures strange encounters and unearthly experiences.

The film stars Season Chee, Pearlly Chua, Jojo Goh, Mei-Sim Hoon and Ling Tang among others, and had previously won the Best Film award at the Istanbul Film Awards in September.

Malaysian stylist Raymond Kuek was also honoured for his makeup work on Singaporean film Number 1, which won the Best Makeup and Costume Design award.

When accepting the award together with the film's Singaporean director Ong Kuo Sin, Kuek thanked the cast and crew of Number 1 and his parents for giving birth to a "short but talented man", The Straits Times reported. The film stars Mark Lee as a retrenched man who decides to work as a drag queen to make ends meet.

Malaysian songwriters Keon Chia and Hooi Yuan Teng also had cause for celebration, as the song they wrote together with Singaporean Tan Boon Wah, Your Name Engraved Herein, won the Best Original Film Song award. It is the theme song for the movie of the same name, and is performed by Crowd Lu and the film's actor Edward Chen.

Veteran Taiwanese actress Chen Shu-fang was the biggest individual winner of the night, bagging both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards. Photo: Reuters

The big winner at last night's awards was Taiwanese romantic comedy My Missing Valentine, which won Best Film, Best Director for Chen Yu-hsun, Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay.

Veteran Taiwanese actress Chen Shu-fang was the biggest individual winner of the night, bagging both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards for her performances in Little Big Women and Dear Tenant respectively. Her Dear Tenant co-star Mo Tzu-yi won the Best Actor award.

Taipei Golden Horse Awards 2020 Winners

• Best film: My Missing Valentine
• Best director: Chen Yu-hsun (My Missing Valentine)
• Best actor: Mo Tzu-yi (Dear Tenant)
• Best actress: Chen Shu-fang (Little Big Women)
• Best supporting actor: Nadow Lin (Classmates Minus)
• Best supporting actress: Chen Shu-fang (Dear Tenant)
• Best new performer: Chen Yan-fei (The Silent Forest)
• Best original screenplay: My Missing Valentine
• Best adapted screenplay: Beyond the Dream
• Best new director: Chong Keat-aun (The Story of Southern Islet)
• Best documentary: Lost Course
• Best animated feature: City of Lost Things
• Best live action short: Night is Young
• Best animated short: Night Bus
• Best cinematography: Your Name Engraved Herein
• Best editing: My Missing Valentine
• Best visual effects: My Missing Valentine
• Best art direction: Classmates Minus
• Best makeup and costume design: Number 1
• Best action choreography: Get The Hell Out
• Best original film score: Dear Tenant
• Best original film song: Your Name Engraved Herein
• Best sound effects: The Silent Forest
• Lifetime achievement award: Hou Hsiao-hsien