By Huizhong Wu
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) --The Taiwanese film "My Missing Valentine" won big Saturday night at the annual Golden Horse Awards, taking five honors, including best feature film.
The romantic comedy, which tells the love story of a bus driver and a post office worker, also won for best director, best visual effects, best film editing and best original screenplay.
Overall, Taiwanese talent enjoyed a big night at the Golden Horse Awards, considered Asia's equivalent of the Academy Awards for Chinese-language films.
Taiwanese performers took home honors for best actor and best actress. Mo Tzu-yi won best actor for his role in "Dear Tenant," while Chen Shu-fang won best actress for "Little Big Women."
Malaysia's Chong Keat-aun won the award for best new director for "The Story of Southern Islet." Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien won the lifetime achievement award.
Even as the coronavirus pandemic has shut cinemas around the globe, actors, directors and others managed to walk the red carpet ahead of the ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan's capital. Taiwan has recorded only 611 cases of the coronavirus and just seven deaths.
"It is not easy. Look at what is happened around the world," said director Ang Lee, the chairman of the competition. "I have just come back from New York. Theaters are closed over there. I am deeply touched that Taiwan's box office revenue still keeps growing."
For the second straight year, mainland Chinese talent did not participate in the competition, with Beijing banning its artists from participating amid tensions between China and Taiwan. Taiwan split off from the mainland after the 1949 civil war, but China still claims the island as part of its territory.
Those tensions have played out at the Golden Horse Awards. In 2018, documentary director Fu Yue called on the world to recognize Taiwan as an independent country in an acceptance speech at the awards ceremony, something only a handful of nations currently do.
In response, Chinese participants refused to appear onstage, made pointed remarks about Taiwan and China being members of the same family, and then declined to attend the banquet reception following the show.
China holds its own film awards, called the Golden Rooster, which are subject to government ideological constraints and censorship.
Canada orders TikTok’s Canadian business to be dissolved but won’t block app
Canada announced Wednesday it won't block access to the popular video-sharing app TikTok but is ordering the dissolution of its Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind it.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it is meant to address risks related to ByteDance Ltd.'s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
"The government is not blocking Canadians' access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content. The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice," Champagne said.
Champagne said it is important for Canadians to adopt good cybersecurity practices, including protecting their personal information.
He said the dissolution order was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may harm Canada's national security. He said the decision was based on information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada's security and intelligence community and other government partners.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of local jobs.
"We will challenge this order in court," the spokesperson said. "The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive."
TikTok is wildly popular with young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
TikTok faces intensifying scrutiny... Read More