Three former Tamkang students were recently nominated for Taiwan’s equivalent of the Oscars, the Golden Horse Awards. In the 49th annual Golden Horse Awards, to be held on November 24, the movie “Girlfriend Boyfriend” has been nominated in seven award categories, including Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and so on. Meanwhile, the documentary film Money and Honey was nominated in the category Best Documentary.

Set in the 1980s, Girlfriend Boyfriend is a story of love and freedom written and directed by TKU alumnus Yang Ya-Che, from the Department of Mass Communications. The movie’s star actress, Kwai Lun-mei, graduated from the TKU Department of English. Ya-che recalls how during his college years, Taiwan was in the process of transforming from martial law to democracy. He remembers how, at the time, teachers began encouraging students to take part in organized student activities. “I even remember how on the outside wall of an apartment near the university, students spray-painted the word ‘democracy’.” The spectrum of college memories were internalized and became the source of creative inspiration for Ya-Che.

Another recent film to receive rave reviews and a Golden Horse nomination is Money and Honey, directed by TKU Department of Japanese alumna, Jasmine Ching-Hui Lee. Filmed over 13 years, the documentary tells the touching story of five Filipino women who have come to Taiwan to live out their dreams. The film has been nominated for awards in over 20 film festivals both locally and internationally.