Today the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee announces that the renowned Hong Kong director Johnnie To is to be the Jury President of the 56th Golden Horse Awards. Johnnie To expresses, ‘the Golden Horse Awards are the most prestigious awards in the Chinese-language cinema and the very important recognition my films have received. Before I’m awarded another prize, I feel honoured that I’ve got a chance to offer my service. I would like to thank director Ang Lee for inviting me.’

Johnnie To has been nominated Best Director eight times at the Golden Horse Awards and won three times for The Mission in 2000, Breaking News in 2004 and Life without Principle in 2012. Johnnie To, Li Hsing, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Ann Hui share the title of the “director with most wins of Best Director Awards at the Golden Horse Awards to date”. Several of To’s films were in competition at the Cannes, the Venice and Berlin International Film Festivals.

To began his career in television. After he directed his first film, The Enigmatic Case, in 1980, he then returned to the TVB to gain more experience before starting to make a series of films in the late 1980s, including Happy Ghost III (1986), The Eighth Happiness (1988), All About Ah-Long(1989), Justice, My Foot! (1992) and The Heroic Trio (1993); through such a wide range of genres and subject matters, To proved himself a versatile director. In 1996, To founded the Milkyway Image and pushed his distinctive styles to such an extent as shown in The Longest Nite(1998), The Mission (1999), PTU (2003), Breaking News (2004), Election (2005), Election 2 (2006), Exiled (2006) and Life Without Principle(2011). In these films, we see not only the perfect combination of the social issues in Hong Kong and genre movie but also the incredibly impressive mise-en-scène. To is also known for being the mentor to many award-winning actors such as Chow Yun-fat, Stephen Chow, Andy Lau, Francis Ng, Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Sean Lau. Furthermore, To is dedicated to promoting Hong Kong cinema and discovering new talents. In addition to founding and serving as the Chair of the Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival, To discovered Jevons Au, Vicky Wong and Frank Hui and worked with them on their first feature film, Trivisa, which won numerous awards at the film festivals around the world. The outstanding aesthetic demonstrated in his films, the rich experience in his career and his sharp eye for spotting new talents undoubtedly make To the most suitable choice for the jury president. Director Ang Lee, the Chair of the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee, expresses his gratitude to Johnnie To for accepting the job despite his extremely busy schedule. In November this year, a retrospective of Johnnie To will be included in the Golden Horse Film Festival.

The award ceremony of the 56th Golden Horse Award is scheduled on November 23. The nominees and the jury members will be announced on October 1. The deadline for the submissions to the Golden Horse Awards, including feature, documentary and animation, the Golden Horse International Film Festival, the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion (FPP)  is July 31.