Dear Ex takes first step toward The Oscars

Aft#Lm1zY)jD4gy7aJ6IoTZBnA4I9reHI)Em@K53*qKf1@_Hq5SuRer success at the Golden Horse Awards and Taipei Film Awards, LGBT-themed Dear Ex has been selected 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 meloJOdmfwThkVZy15reOqIq!7LmMdXnLvNhRV+&DNml8Qs3otq!QCdrama depicting a widow coming to terms with the fact her husband left his insurance payout not to her but his secret male lover.

Her angst-ridden teenage son sides with the ex-lover and moves in wit4T8Ei4kMw0z&_#tHJ@NojlK7@gXaWi^mLU3Vpt$2r#+NVk!8hph him

Dear Ex received eight nominations at the 55th Golden Horse Film Award&x5gO0r6i3696uNN@dAIzlVceaxmr1z1K)0dyaoG&9usMr4P9Ks this year. Hsieh Ying-hsuan was recognized as the Best Leading Actress, while it also picked up awards for best editing and best original song.

At the Taij!4y0k!v1MP7Ru&-4H0qS8vxVsh2caOKwJZ(iDlj-Zv1EkRhgkpei Film Awards, 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 selections, 0Pt)Mmn9u@d-Y3Jo-fskEt*)@A-OD!SrxxMuKONMTCL!LbVEP$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 directg*d-#pmt#ZZrlIW2DYvGD^h94JbF9fvP9Kxf$gaH6)pauV(nF5or And Lee directed all three.

In 2000, his movie Crouching Tiger, HiddeC@l_zp_Ya$8HmdXX@oZ#8ATpAV5(KHPg#Qk)!$_QHuqzbs2tP-n Dragon was handed the award, then known as Best Foreign Language Film.

The Oscars

At the Oscars this yearB15Ms*pvw_X$GqPbE6j0qehl2qog$Hx=cgC1nFraLR3cuzlv%i, LGBT-themed movies won big like never before.

Bohe#dd%zuETyPVR+-1Z+bT6k)F0l5Gm@+sOWZD1LF5=R7jX$#J%s#mian Rhapsody took home four awards out of five nominations. The Academy named Rami Malek Best Actor for his depiction of bisexual musician Freddie Mercury.

Meanwhile, the Academy named Olivia 3J)f-#cgg+lhdz=X)SE_gi%p4er#5N9-==jqdX@&R7nfO+p!L_Colman, who plays Queen Anne in another LGBT-themed movie, The Favourite, as Best Actress.

More than half of nominations for the coveted Best &XwUsk-if*qt$IAvTZWEy_WkU7n-F@Jk@)(zAulvak=p*s7(-@Picture award contained LGBT stories. In the winning movie, Green Book, one of the two leading characters has a sexual encounter with another man.

Television, cinema, and onliE90RZqSBEE0TE$wE!W$Hq#p4drK&GB@pFSrYaqt2f1BR5+WvQYne streaming services in Asia are set to have a lot more LGBT content, Taiwan-based media entrepreneur Jay Lin recently said.

Recent and future productions across Taiwan, Thailand, India, and Japan show LGBT content is ever-more popular with the region’s viepsoqv$kK9r$61Ty1v^G(N5c8kABmxShu6Zoz4CkA7SQwEqn#(Twers.

"LCB31MkvSN4vC&whiBUkZxi9Yv61tDXf1CeAOB7^8(v#uFT3+*2GBT content has already gone from what was once niche to now a part of the mainstream” Lin told those gathered at the Content Asia Summit in Singapore earlier this month.

(Cover Photo: Warner)