San Francisco Frontiers - Chinese star Fan Bingbing eyes Taiwan top film award

Fan, nominated for her uncharacteristic role as a farmer-healer in the Malaysian movie "Mother Bhumi", is the best-known nominee from China at this year's Golden Horse Awards, dubbed the Chinese-language Oscars.

Excitement was building up that Fan may grace the event, after the film's Malaysian director Chong Keat-aun told local media Friday there would be "surprise for everyone tomorrow".

Also expected on the red carpet at the Taipei Music Centre are Oscar-winning Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee, Japanese star Hidetoshi Nishijima, and Hong Kong actress Chung Suet-ying.

Chinese directors and A-Listers have largely shunned Golden Horse since a Taiwanese director voiced support for the island's independence in an acceptance speech in 2018.

Beijing, which claims self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, banned entertainers from attending the event in 2019 at a time of rising political tensions between the two sides.

Last year saw a record number of entries from China despite the sensitivity of the awards, and acclaimed filmmaker Lou Ye bagged best film and best director with his docu-drama "An Unfinished film" set during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fan was one of China's highest paid actresses and starred in the X-Men and Iron Man franchises before she was targeted in a crackdown on tax evasion in 2018. Her career in China has been on ice since.

Fan delivered what some critics hailed as a breakthrough performance with her portrayal of a widowed farmer and ritual healer in "Mother Bhumi", a far cry from her usual glamorous roles.

"Fan appeared in the movie with a completely different look -- a darker complexion, wider facial features, and a nose reshaped with special effects makeup -- a far cry from her previous screen image," said Taiwanese film critic Wonder Weng, predicting she would win best actress.

"These details weren't for gimmicks, but to convince the audience that she was the Chinese farmer living in Malaysia," he told AFP.

"Mother Bhumi" has eight nominations including best film and best director.

Taiwanese film "A Foggy Tale" set during the island's "White Terror" political purges decades ago leads the race with 11 nods, including best film, best director, best actor and best actress.

Family drama "Left-Handed Girl", co-written by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker and Taiwanese-American filmmaker Tsou Shih-ching, is also a frontrunner with nine nominations, including best film and best original screenplay for Baker and Tsou.

Hong Kong's same-sex drama "Queerpanorama" directed by Jun Li, which had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, has five nods including best film and best director.

D.Brown--SFF