Johnny To's new Hong Kong gangland saga, Exiled, and Perhaps Love, a lavish movie musical by Peter Chan, are among the nominees for best film at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards.

Nominees were announced Monday in Taipei for the awards, the most prestigious for Chinese-language films.

The cast and crew of After This Our Exile were at the Rome Film Festival last week. They are, from left, actors Aaron Kwok, Goum Ian Iskandar and Charlie Yeung, director Patrick Tam and actor Kelly Lin.
The cast and crew of After This Our Exile were at the Rome Film Festival last week. They are, from left, actors Aaron Kwok, Goum Ian Iskandar and Charlie Yeung, director Patrick Tam and actor Kelly Lin.
(Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press)
To was nominated last year for another triad story, Election and Chan's Perhaps Love was Hong Kong's entry for the best picture Oscar in 2005.

Also nominated for best picture:

  • Crazy Stone, a blackly humorous thriller that has been compared to Snatch, directed by Hao Ning.
  • Silk, by Su Chao-pin, a horror mystery about a group of scientists trying to understand a message from a ghost child.
  • After This Our Exile, directed by Patrick Tam, about the awkward relationship between a father and son after the mother leaves the family.

To, Hao, Su and Chan are also finalists for the Golden Horse for best director.

After This Our Exile has earned the most nominations for acting talent, with Aaron Kwok up for best actor, Goum Ian Iskandar for best supporting actor and for best new performer. The movie premiered at the Rome and Pusan film festivals last week.

Eternal Summer's Joseph Chang also earned multiple nominations, along with co-star Bryant Chang. It is one of the few Taiwanese movies in the running for the biggest awards. 

Also nominated for best actor are Sam Lee, who plays a disturbed cop in the noir thriller Dog Bites Dog, Frances Ng in Hong Kong crime saga Wo Hu and Chang Chen, who plays the master player of a traditional Chinese game in The Go Master.

The best actress nominees are Siqin Gaowa for The Postmodern Life of My Aunt, about a swindler who falls in love with his target, Lee Sin-je for Re-cycle, a horror film about an author who enters a fictional world, Zhou Xun of Perhaps Love and Carina Lau in Chinese sci-fi mystery Curiosity Kills the Cat.

Also nominated for Golden Horse awards:

  • Best supporting actor: Chapman To, Moonlight in Tokyo, Wu Zhongtian, The Touch of Fate, Joseph Chang, Eternal Summer, Goum Ian Iskandar, After This Our Exile.
  • Best supporting actress: Amy Chum, My Mother Is a Belly Dancer, Zhao Wei, The Postmodern Life of My Aunt, Nikki Shie, Reflections, Pearlly Chua I Don't Want to Sleep Alone.
  • Best new performer: Wu Zhongtian, The Touch of Fate, Bryant Chang, Eternal Summer, Joseph Chang, Eternal Summer, Goum Ian Iskandar, After This Our Exile.

The awards ceremony is scheduled at the end of November.