Dear Ex takes first step toward The Oscars

After success at the Golden Horse Awards and Taipei Film Awards, LGBT-themed Dear Ex has been selkw6V$FltD5)e93N8UQ6unNpD=T$taqKpu)3PBn^#K4cmpuwUGSected to represent Taiwan in the international feature film category at the 2020 Oscars.

Co-directed by Mag Hsu and Hsu Chih-yen, Dear Ex is a comedic melodrama depiLdV1HJCB1T)d2TxH451i)S2%kop^Y2ED8(z3*-xWX-h%!GVYEucting a widow coming to terms with the fact her husband left his insurance payout not to her but his secret male lover.

Her anOgzTr&3Gw4!$O1tO-RHQzW#toY7g-_p7)eoK9RF69k4ck-iCwngst-ridden teenage son sides with the ex-lover and moves in with him

Dear Ex received eight nominations at the 55th Golden Horse Film Awards this year. Hsieh Ying-hsuan was recognized as the Best Leading Actress, while i*VJ(2_OZ=&1z8$S4DuL5IQZSh3&2W4uGHXX%0b1G)bJ3Y=bSqKt also picked up awards for best editing and best original song.

At the Taipei Film AwarR7Oh2D!Hi6+GyM=vnXW!#14Q22#^AI9plzyeqxPyaqve%j%bJrds, it won Best Narrative Feature Film, Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress, and the Press Award. The selection committee chose the film to represent Taiwan out of 16 contenders.

After several rounds of seGnAWXfvn!wWWqSZIOlEzqGn*S0)d0P=7A9y^cAes0uUPl+A$m#lections, five films will be nominated for the Best International Feature Film category.

Films from Taiwan have been nominated three times in the Oscars 91-year history. Legendary director And Lee dirs93r=+b1-fK%CsJr7lqxNWsTSDHujpiPi_Z6Fc9Bn1z!&BEjKOected all three.

In 2000, his movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was handed the award, then known as Best FTZO%V7&uiAMBFdl%4H6OXde+#3=DLlpJFZynlb&kRsT0iDpRMforeign Language Film.

The Oscars

At the Oscars this year, LGBL=(*+e=Q0Lv3Z#fA_tCsa6TKvaO2a!YRLew1BsQ249foq9Jc--T-themed movies won big like never before.

Bohemian Rhapsody took home four awards out of five nominations.0obJ=wiLe(!%k3pU(a%^-0$6GP)DfEZdOBjoqF6dp1XpL22GQo The Academy named Rami Malek Best Actor for his depiction of bisexual musician Freddie Mercury.

Meanwhile, the Academy named Olivia Colma-H9oLr*dCjYx@eqJrMpXflus_Ii2K-1%+EC8CXqSS%7D_uGR3(n, who plays Queen Anne in another LGBT-themed movie, The Favourite, as Best Actress.

More than half of nominations for the coveted Best Picture award contained LGBT stories. ZR+3H+m-daZ6ot4+vs(Iqjd!CZQL0&Ag9plskSXj2SbkNg0$n&In the winning movie, Green Book, one of the two leading characters has a sexual encounter with another man.

Television, cinema, and online streaming services in Asia3a3veI9P#N6(fHI%nbyMUmEW$V!Oxmxj_YzLRDZhTnQqTHOHJW are set to have a lot more LGBT content, Taiwan-based media entrepreneur Jay Lin recently said.

Recem-GS!Qw&-kyP3lwitAGGNL&b^G2DD71X(1M!9$T*@!@7NLFGJ7nt and future productions across Taiwan, Thailand, India, and Japan show LGBT content is ever-more popular with the region’s viewers.

"LGBT content has already gone from what was once niche to now a part of the mainstream” Lin told those gathered at the Content Asia UyALbBX7za1X6_PeV=0(=zx#(!Yp&k*kG94%^_Dnm2mlbfE%F=Summit in Singapore earlier this month.

(Cover Photo: Warner)