Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival announces its Lifetime Achievement Award recipients for this year: award-winning director WANG Toon and veteran actor Jimmy WANG Yu.

WANG Toon is six-time Golden Horse Awards winner, including Forever My Love (1976, Best Art Direction), All the King’s Men (1983, Best Costume Design), Run Away (1985, Best Art Direction & Best Costume Design), as well as two Best Director Awards for Strawman (1987) and Hill of No Return (1992). Three of his directorial works, If I Were for Real (1981)、Strawman and Hill of No Return, won the Best Feature Film Award.

WANG Toon began his career in Central Motion Picture Corporation from entry-level. When he got promoted as Head of the Studio, he established the center for post-production, facilities for synchronous sound recording, computerized editing and the very first Dolby recording studio in Taiwan, all of which greatly lay the foundation for the development of Taiwan cinema. Renowned actress YANG Kuei-mei especially acknowledges his unique cinematic aesthetics and, in recent years, his unreserved dedication to education in cultivating the next-generation filmmakers. WANG Toon has set a respectful example in filmmaking, industry advancement and talents incubation.

Jimmy WANG Yu is a movie superstar who leads the trend and innovates the genre. He joined the Shaw Brothers Studio in 1963 and debuted by Tiger Boy (1966). Soon he became the constant lead for martial arts movies in the 60s’, such as One-Armed Swordsman (1967), The Golden Swallow (1968), and Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969), continually creating classic persona and breaking box office records.

Jimmy WANG Yu has two nominations for Best Leading Actor award at Golden Horse Award with Brotherly Love (1978) and Soul (2013), respectively, as well as a nod for Best Supporting Actor by Wu Xia (2011).

Chair of the Festival Ang LEE also highly praises Jimmy WANG Yu’s achievement, “not only does he set the standard for martial arts superstar, he also pioneered in the genre. The film The Chinese Boxer (1970), directed and acted by Jimmy WANG Yu, explores the subgenre of kung fu even earlier than world-famous Bruce LEE and inspires numerous successors.”

The 56th Golden Horse Awards Ceremony will take place on November 23rd Saturday in Taipei. Submission for the Golden Horse Awards (feature, documentary and animation feature), as well as Golden Horse International Film Festival and Golden Horse Film Project Promotion will be due in July 31st. For more info, please visit the official website.