The Golden Horse Film Project Promotion (FPP), which has fostered countless outstanding works, today (9/27) announced its list of selected projects for 2021. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on film productions all around the world, filmmakers have continued to come up with new ideas and seek new opportunities. Given the extremely high quality of the projects submitted, a total of 44 film projects were ultimately selected, comprising 37 projects in development as well as 7 Work In Progress (WIP) still in search of funding or other co-production partners. These eye-catching standout projects include many Golden Horse Awards winners and quite a few international co-productions, one of which boasts Oscar-winner Cate BLANCHETT as an executive producer. Along with the 19 series projects unveiled earlier, the total number of film and series projects selected for the Golden Horse FPP this year now stands at 63. 

This year’s selected Taiwanese film projects are full of big hitters. CHU Yu-ning’s Love FaitH is adapted from Hugh K. S. LEE’s classic stage play; HOU Chi-jan’s Papa Fujii’s Unexpected Journey is based on a moving true story that spans across Japan and Taiwan; Q & I is a new romance from YANG Ya-che, director of The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful and The Magician on the Skywalk; HSIAO Ya-chuan’s I Feel You is executive produced by HOU Hsiao-hsien and OSAKA Fumiko; The Ancient Tree is a magical allegory crafted by multiple Golden Horse Awards nominee Singing CHEN; and Grandma and Her Ghosts 2 - Baby Power, the only animated selection, is WANG Shau-di’s highly anticipated sequel to the classic Grandma and Her Ghosts.

Many projects took on the same challenge of tackling the crime and thriller genres. Plurality director SHIAO Li-shiou and The Scoundrels director HUNG Tzi-hsuan have both continued to show interest in genre films, bringing forth the new crime comedy Private Eyes and the prison escape action film Imprisonment, respectively; WANG Wei-ming’s Hotel Sandman, CHEN Hung-i’s Juvenile 229, and CHUANG Shiang-an’s Mama Pingpong Social Club are all films with fantasy elements; HSU Li-da’s A Boy and A Girl and YU Jhi-han’s The Young Hoodlum revolve around juvenile crime; Lives of Crime is a female-driven crime film headed by four up-and-coming female directors - HSIEH Pei-ju, YANG Chieh, LEE I-hui, and HUANG Dan-chi; and TSAI Chia-ying’s A Child’s Drawing is a psychological thriller adaptation led by the acclaimed team behind The Tag-Along.

Other selected projects worthy of attention include Leftover Women Detectives, executive produced by Bowie TSANG and HSIEH Ying-xuan and directed by LEE Yen-ju; Side A: A Summer Day, executive produced by CHANG Tso-chi and directed by WAN Kin-fai; Xiao Xiao, by Lucky Draw director CHIN Chia-hua; Penguin Girl, the feature directorial debut of Little Big Women producer Yuyu YANG; Ah-Ze’s 1980, directed by CHUANG Yung-hsin and adapted from the Golden Comic Awards Grand Prize winner of the same name; and Pilgrimage with Mazu and Your Mom, a romantic comedy based around the annual Mazu pilgrimage.

A total of seven selected projects hail from Hong Kong. Among them, Peaches attracted acclaimed actress Cate BLANCHETT as an executive producer; Yan Yan MAK’s Chungking Rosemary is executive produced by award-winning director Stanley KWAN; Today…Tomorrow… is directed by Ray YEUNG, who once again focuses on an elderly gay couple after earning four Golden Horse Awards nominations with Suk Suk; I Might Write About Us is the new project of Jun LI, who recently performed well at various major film festivals with Drifting; Cholita is a heartwarming comedy by YUEN Kim-wai, director of the drama Heaven in the Dark; and CHU Ka-shing’s Toronto Snowing, Tokyo Raining, Hong Kong Tearing and the documentary The More, The Merrier both touch on the topic of Hong Kong immigrants.

Singapore and Malaysia landed a total of six project selections, all of which have directors with Golden Horse ties. Stranger Eyes is the new film by YEO Siew-hua, whose previous work A Land Imagined won two Golden Horse Awards; ONG Kuo Sin, director of last year’s Golden Horse Awards-winning hit Number 1, is back with A Good Child, a deep dive into the world of drag queens; Very Very Important Funeral is directed by LIM Kean-hian, a former Golden Horse Awards nominee for Best Live Action Short Film; Homework’s Jacky YEAP and Trouble 11’s YEO Joon-han are both former nominees of the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival’s NETPAC Award; and Causeway director AW See Wee was a member of last year’s Golden Horse Film Academy.

This year’s selections also feature several thematically rich international co-productions. The Taiwanese-French co-production My Madonna’s Night is a fantasy musical by Forêt Debussy director KUO Cheng-chui; the Taiwanese-Korean collaboration Things I Do For Love is CHEN Chih-yin’s adaptation of the true story about an older woman who flies to South Korea to pursue her actor crush GONG Yoo; and Nepalese director Min Bahadur BHAM’s A Year of Cold, which is joined by a Taiwanese crew, is a realistic portrayal of a woman’s resilience in the unforgiving Himalayas. 

The WIP section, which provides project matching assistance for films that are shooting or in post-production, has always achieved great results. Many former WIP selections have already been released this year, including GATAO - The Last Stray, Dead & Beautiful, Green Jail, Blood of the Blue, RAYDIO, and Far Away Eyes. This year’s new WIP selections include CHANG Tso-chi’s highly-anticipated Red Horse in the Summer Sky; CHAN Ching-lin’s Coo-Coo, which focuses on a pigeon-racing family; LAI Kuo-an’s new fantasy film No Game No Life; CHANG Shu-wei’s rally car racing film See You At The Rally; and Rachid HAMI’s Taiwanese-French co-production For The Country. Additionally, there are also two documentary selections: TSAI Tsung-lung’s And Miles to Go Before I Sleep, which delves into the controversial police shooting of an undocumented Vietnamese migrant worker; and LAM Can-zhao’s Old Fashion, New Life, which explores China’s female etiquette classes.

The 2021 Golden Horse FPP will be held from November 22 to 24. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on November 24.