Shu Qi’s Directorial Debut Girl Earns 10 Golden Horse Nominations — Giloo Revisits Past Works by This Year’s Nominees

The nominees for the 63rd Golden Horse Awards have been announced. Arrested Memory leads with 11 nominations, Girl received 10, while Double Happiness and We Are Born Good earned nine each. Ahead of the awards ceremony, join Giloo in revisiting earlier works by this year’s nominees and see how they have gradually developed their distinctive performance styles and visual languages through each new project.

Nomination presenters Ma Shiyuan (left) and Liu Jing (right) announced the nominees for the 63rd Golden Horse Awards yesterday. Courtesy of the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee

Shu Qi stepped behind the camera for the first time to direct the feature-length film Girl, which received 10 nominations: Best Narrative Feature, Best New Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best New Performer, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Makeup & Costume Design, Best Original Film Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Effects.

Still from Girl

Revisiting Earlier Works: How Actors Build Their Characters

Before watching Girl, revisit the screen presence Shu Qi cultivated over many years in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s films. Millennium Mambo captures her drifting through a hypnotic urban landscape, while her remarkably restrained performance in The Assassin conveys intense emotional tension. Watching these two films alongside Girl offers a closer look at how she transformed years of acting experience into a directorial language of her own.

Liu Kuan-ting, nominated for Best Leading Actor for Double Happiness, previously played the children’s television performer “Shiba San” in the short film Shiba San and Meow Chan. On camera, he portrays a cheerful character who answers children’s questions. Off camera, he is trapped in a secret relationship he cannot reveal. In just 31 minutes, Liu delivers a nuanced contrast between his character’s bright exterior and emotional predicament.

Still from Shiba San and Meow Chan

Chung Suet-ying received a Best Leading Actress nomination for We Are Born Good. She previously appeared in the Hong Kong short film The Gentle Madness, in which her character turns her family story into a documentary. When her mother unexpectedly returns home, long-buried secrets begin to surface, raising questions about filmmaking ethics and the manipulation of images. From this early short to her recent feature-film performances, Chung has demonstrated a keen ability to navigate complex relationships between characters.

Following the Sound Beyond the Screen

This year’s nominees also suggest another viewing path through sound. Lim Giong’s score for Girl was nominated for Best Original Film Score, while Tu Duu-chih worked on the sound design for both Girl and Arrested Memory, both nominated for Best Sound Effects. For those looking to revisit an earlier collaboration between the two, Millennium Mambo is an excellent place to begin. Lim’s electronic score intertwines with Tu’s sound design to create a vivid, dreamlike urban atmosphere at the turn of the millennium.

Still from Millennium Mambo

9m88 also demonstrates her cross-disciplinary creativity among this year’s nominated films. She wrote, composed, and performed “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” for Double Happiness, earning a nomination for Best Original Film Song, while also starring in Girl. Viewed together, these works reveal how filmmakers contribute from different creative positions—including acting, music, and sound—to give cinema a wider range of expression.

The judging process for the 63rd Golden Horse Awards consists of three stages: preliminary selection, nomination selection, and final selection. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on November 22, while the complete jury lineup is expected to be announced in late October. All nominated films will screen at the Golden Horse Film Festival beginning November 6, with tickets going on sale October 25. Public screenings for the Golden Horse Audience Choice Award will take place on November 7 and 8 at the Hualien Railway Cinema, Hsinchu City Image Museum, and Neiwei Arts Center in Kaohsiung. Registration opens October 7. Please refer to the official Golden Horse website for full details.

Full List of Nominees

Best Narrative Feature
Girl
Double Happiness
We Are Born Good
Arrested Memory
We Are All Strangers

Best Documentary Feature
The Dance of a Soloist
The Whisper of Sunlight
Scenes from Departure
Almost Home
Etude

Best Animated Feature
Magic Atlas
Welcome to Dolly's House
The Violinist

Best Live Action Short Film
The Last Jiangshi
She Said
Three Little Pigs
Fruit
Her Slope

Best Documentary Short Film
Myanmar Girls
The Paperflower Still Blooms
Night Journey
Amateur in the Moon
A Farewell to Julieta

Best Animated Short Film
Stacy
Deep End
You Are Not Part of the Cake
The Buried Baby
Bowknot

Best Original Screenplay
Keane T.K WONG | Afterpiece
KWOK Ka-hei, Jack LEE Chun-kit, HO Siu-hong, CHOI Ka-hang | Unidentified Murder
TANG Hsiang-chu | SAYANG
HSIEH Pei-ju, Joseph HSU Chen-chieh | Double Happiness
YEUNG Leung-chuen, Thomas | We Are Born Good

Best Visual Effects
ArChin YEN, CHEN Yen-ping, TSENG Huai-ju, Wayne TSENG | Kung Fu
Tomi KUO, Ivan LIN, Hannah HAN | SAYANG
ArChin YEN | Mudborn
Evan WEN, HU Hong-yu, Woody YEH, Sean TSAI | The Photo from 1977
VT CHIEW, Maxine Y.M. TUNG, Xander GUO, HUANG Min-pin | Sinisusu Tua Pucumayan The Last Hunter

Best Action Choreography
Teddy Ray HUANG | Dead End
CHANG Jae-wook, KIM Kyoung-woo | Kung Fu
HUNG Shih-hao | Mudborn
HUNG Shih-hao, FAN Keng-hua, CHEN Ming-you | Arrested Memory

Best Sound Effects
WU Shu-yao, TU Duu-chih, TANG Hsiang-chu | Girl
Eddie HUANG Nien-yung, CHEN Yi-ling, WANG Tzu-jou, LO Song-ce | The Canary's Lullaby
R.T KAO, LEE Yu-chih, YANG Jia-shen, CHEN Jia-li | Kung Fu
WU Shu-yao, HSU Chiao-han, LIU Pei-min | SAYANG
Patrick TU, TU Duu-chih | Arrested Memory

Best Original Film Song
Lyrics: 9m88, Music: 9m88, Performed by: 9m88 | “Everything's Gonna Be Alright” | Double Happiness
Lyrics: Gavin LIN, Music: Ferry LEE, Performed by: A-Lin (Lisang Pacidal Koyouan) | “Happiness Is Singing” | Sunshine Women's Choir
Lyrics: Morgan CHEUNG, Music: Sara FUNG, Performed by: Ian HANNZ | “We Are Born Good” | We Are Born Good
Lyrics: TSENG Kuo-hung, Music: TSENG Kuo-hung, Performed by: Sunset Rollercoaster | “Stop Running” | Arrested Memory
Lyrics: David KE, Music: KATAYAMA Ryota, Performed by: KATAYAMA Ryota, HUNG Pei-yu | “Gone With the Tide” | Dead Tide

Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year
Moya CHOU

Lifetime Achievement Award
YU Kan-ping

Text by:Aying Sung