INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightTaipei Golden Horse Film FestivalThe Oscar statuette is Hollywood's biggest trophy
In the world of Chinese cinema, its equivalent is a galloping Golden Horse
Come Saturday, actors, directors and cinematographers will descend upon Taiwan's capital to attend the annual Golden Horse Awards
This year marks its 55th show
With increasing investment in Chinese cinema it's likely that in just a few years time, some of those walking the red carpet on Saturday
will become household names around the world.Big names from the Chinese-speaking world made their screen debut at the Golden Horse Awards
Filmmakers Wong Kar Wai and Ang Lee and stars Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai have taken home their share of horses.Image
copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Taiwan's Ang Li, who delivered the Hollywood blockbuster Life of Pi, walks the red
carpet in Taipei
But ever since films from mainland China became eligible for entry in 1996, the Golden Horse Awards has
reflected the growing might of China's film industry
This year, most nominees for the major award categories hail from China.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Screaming fans turn out every year to catch a glimpse of their favourite Chinese stars
This is your guide to the big ticket
award show from one of the world's most dynamic film industries
Who's whoIt's worth starting with the big names first
Zhang YimouThe 68-year-old screen legend is perhaps the best-known mainland Chinese director outside of China
Even though he's been Oscar-nominated for films such as Raise the Red Lantern, he's never won a Golden Horse award
But that could change this year.Image copyrightTaipei Golden Horse Film FestivalImage caption
Will this be the year
Zhang Yimou wins his first Golden Horse Award
Mr Zhang's movie Shadow is in the running for Best Feature Film
He's also been nominated for Best Director.But one of the things that makes the Golden Horse Awards so interesting is that it favours dark
horses as much as its golden ones
And wins could go to someone lesser known.Image copyrightTaipei Golden Horse Film FestivalImage caption
Will Lou Ye's
controversial Chinese films make an impact at this year's Golden Horse Awards
Lou YeHe's known as the bad boy of mainland
Chinese cinema.Director Lou Ye, whose films include Suzhou River and Weekend Lover, has had his run in with Beijing censors for his creative
decisions in covering controversial themes such as sexuality and gender.It's no surprise that his latest offering The Shadow Play happens to
touch on the very sensitive Chinese C word: "corruption."Image copyrightTaipei Golden Horse Film FestivalPema TsedenIt's rare to shortlist a
movie set in Tibet at any film festival, even at the Golden Horse Awards
What's even more unusual is having a Tibetan director in the running for best director.Pema Tseden will be competing against better known
directors like Zhang Yimou for the acclaimed prize.His film Jinpa tells of a truck driver who picks up a hitchhiker on an isolated road in
the barren plains of Tibet
He later learns of the young man's intentions: to kill the man who murdered his father.What's what Somehow the films manage to reflect the
political temperature of the Chinese-speaking world
In Lou Ye's The Shadow Play, a local government official in charge of approving "urban renewal" projects and an ambitious land developer
collude to make their fortunes
He later falls from a rooftop during a riot against demolition and a young police officer investigating the mysterious death uncovers a
complex web of extramarital affairs, betrayal and murder; and later becomes entangled himself.Image copyrightAFPImage caption
President Xi has led the charge on corruption in China
It's a story that could only have come about after years of
headlines of Chinese President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption, Chinese officials taking their own life not to mention the recent
disappearance of Interpol chief Meng Hongwei
Many foreigners may not know about the pace of China's economic reform, but this is inevitably the subject of hushed dinner table
conversations in China.Image copyrightVillage Roadshow AsiaImage caption
Zhang Yimou's highly anticipated martial arts
period drama Shadow
One cannot help but think Zhang Yimou's Shadow, the story of a powerful king and his people displaced
from their homeland and longing to win it back, feels like an allegory.The cinematography is breathtaking but also two of the biggest
celebrities in China currently - husband and wife Deng Chao and Sun Li - play the leading characters.Image copyrightOcean Entertainment
CoAnd an entry from Taiwan shows it living up to its reputation as the most open place in Asia on homosexuality.Nominated for Best Feature
Film Dear Ex, played by Best Actress nominee Hsieh Ying-xuan, is about a woman who discovers her late gay husband had named his male partner
as the beneficiary of his insurance policy
She takes her son to confront him and demand the money
But her son ends up staying on to learn more about his late father.Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Hong Kong's
Occupy movement was the subject of the film Umbrella Diaries: The First Umbrella
The Golden Horse Awards isn't one to shy
away from sensitive issues
Big political events have influenced some of this year's nominated films
Best Documentary nominees include Our Youth in Taiwan (about the island country's Sunflower Movement) and Umbrella Diaries: The First
Umbrella (charting the birth of the Occupy protests through Hong Kong activists).A young director's tragic endAt the age of 29, Chinese
novelist (turned director) Hu Bo took his life
His first full-length feature film An Elephant Sitting Still landed him a coveted nomination for the Best New Director award and is
nominated for Best Feature Film
Image copyrightDongchun FilmsImage caption
Hu Bo's tragic cinematic masterpiece An Elephant Sitting Still
In the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli, there is said to be an elephant that simply sits and ignores the world.The place becomes an
obsession for the film's four protagonists, who run away from their troubles and set their hopes on finding it
It reflects the characters' and perhaps the director Hu Bo's sense of alienation from society
Following his death, his masterpiece was finished off by a production team.Image copyrightNicetop Independent LimitedImage caption
Three Husbands is not your conventional Hong Kong film
A prostitute with a superhuman libido, plies her trade
while living on a boat in Hong Kong
Three Husbands follows the story of a woman named Baby Girl
With three husbands, she doggedly devotes herself to her work - not exactly in keeping with traditional Chinese values
Chloe Maayan's bold performance has landed her a Golden Horse nomation for Best Leading Actress
The film is the third in a "prostitute trilogy" from director Fruit Chan in which he uses sex to satirise modern day Hong Kong.Rising
starletsTaiwanese actress Hsieh Ying-xuan, who starred in Dear Ex, delivered a very convincing performance as a woman harbouring deep
She's already won the Taipei Film Festival Best Actress Award
If she takes home the Best Leading Actress in the Golden Horse Awards, that would be the biggest prize in the Chinese starlet's acting
career.Image copyrightTaipei Golden Horse Film FestivalImage caption
Taiwanese actress Hsieh Ying-xuan
Image copyrightTaipei Golden Horse Film FestivalImage caption
Will Chloe Maayan's unforgettable performance as
prostitute Baby Girl win her a Golden Horse
Like the Academy Awards, the Golden Horse ceremony will keep viewers glued to
their screens late into the night.And keep audiences talking about it the very next day.
