The 26th Taipei Film Festival (referred to as Taipei Film Festival) announced its list of nominees yesterday, with actor Chen Muyi, who won the Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Horse Awards for the film “The Old Fox,” becoming a notable absence in this edition of the Taipei Film Awards. He questioned on Facebook, stating that if they felt his role wasn’t substantial enough, they should just say so directly, “Acting is about acting, why bring up Taiwan independence.”
Veteran actor Chen Muyi won the Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Horse Awards last year for his performance in “The Old Fox.” However, following the announcement of the list of nominees for the 26th Taipei Film Festival, he surprisingly did not make the cut. According to Taipei Film Festival, Chen Muyi applied for Best Actor, but his role was deemed insufficient for a nomination.
Chen Muyi took to Facebook that day, expressing his disappointment, claiming that Taipei Film Festival director Li Yamei mentioned his role was not substantial enough, ultimately leading to his exclusion.
In response to the reason given for his exclusion, he wrote on Facebook that people shouldn’t assume he hasn’t read books.
Chen Muyi stated that the significance of a role refers to the importance and level of involvement of the character played by an actor in a drama/film, in other words, the amount of the character an actor embodies in a work. He advised against measuring an actor’s significance by timing each actor’s performance seconds using a stopwatch.
He cited Marlon Brando in “The Godfather” as an example, where Brando had fewer scenes than Al Pacino as mentioned by Li Yamei, but Brando received a nomination for Best Actor and won.
Chen Muyi remarked that if they wanted to argue his role was not substantial enough, they should just say, “All of China is discussing you, Chen Muyi, not allowing ‘The Old Fox’ into the Chinese theaters, don’t come back to harm Taipei Film Festival anymore,” “Just act, why bring up Taiwan independence,” “Since the Golden Horse, you’ve had no job offers, even if you had some, they disappeared, we didn’t offend you, so don’t come to provoke those of us who purely pursue art.”
Facing this outcome, Chen Muyi affirmed, “I will uphold Taiwan’s independence as a country, never tolerating foreign interference in our freedom of speech and creation.” He also stated that he will still attend the award ceremony of this edition of Taipei Film Festival, aiming to make the festival more inclusive and broad-minded.
As for Taipei Film Festival’s response to the matter, they stated, “During the evaluation process of Taipei Film Awards, the judging panel strictly discusses the actors’ performances only, without involving other factors. Taipei Film Festival respects the professional decisions of the judging committee.”