Singapore’s official Oscars entry wins big at Golden Horse Awards

Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen has won the top prize at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards for his directorial debut. Ilo Ilo was named Best Feature Film at Saturday’s ceremony in Taipei, beating competition from Johnnie To’s Drug War, Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin, The Grandmaster from Wong Kar Wai, and Tsai Ming-liang’s Stray Dogs.
The drama, about a maid’s awkward relationship with her employers, also earned Chen Best Original Screenplay and Best New Director honours, while its star, Yeo Yann Yann, was named Best Supporting Actress.
The accolades will give Chen a big boost ahead of the 2014 Oscars, where Ilo Ilo, which was a winner at the Cannes Film Festival in France in May (13), has been put forward as Singapore’s official entry for the Foreign Language Film award.
It was also a big night for Wong Kar Wai – martial arts film The Grandmaster claimed Best Leading Actress for Zhang Ziyi, in addition to four other wins in craft categories, while Stray Dogs landed Best Director for Tsai Ming-liang and Best Leading Actor for Lee Kang Sheng.
Best Supporting Actor went to Xuejian Li for Back to 1942.
The winners for the Golden Horse Awards, which celebrate the best in Chinese-language cinema, were decided by a jury led by Oscar winner Ang Lee.