Lou Ye’s An Unfinished Film is on the fast track for release in Taiwan after its best film win at the Golden Horse Awards, which allows it to skip the official lottery draws quota system designated for mainland Chinese films.
The film, which centres on the early days of the Covid-19 lockdown in China, is scheduled to open on December 20 through local distributor Hooray Films.While it is labelled as a Singapore-Germany co-production, it is still considered a mainland Chinese production in Taiwan. Only 10 mainland Chinese films are allowed to release in Taiwan every year, following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between China and Taiwan in 2010.
Every November, Taiwanese distributors can submit their mainland Chinese titles - limited to one title per company - to Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture for lottery draws. Only 10 lucky titles will be given the right to distribute from January 1 to December 31 in the following year. If any of the 10 films withdraws or forfeits its eligibility, the 11th film will take its place.
Hooray Films closed the deal for An Unfinished Film during Cannes in May when it premiered in Special Screenings, without knowing for sure that it would win the draw lots. But its success at the Golden Horse Awards last month comes with a fast-track release.
The film follows a film crew near Wuhan in January 2020 who resume shooting a feature that had been halted 10 years earlier, only to pick it up again amidst the outbreak of Covid-19.
An Unfinished Film won best film and best director at the Golden Horse Awards, making it the first mainland Chinese film to score such a double win. Only winners of either category are allowed to skip the once-a-year lottery draws.
If it had to join the lottery draws - like in the case of Bel Ami, a LGBTQ+ mainland Chinese film that won three awards including best actor – it would have had to wait until the next round in November 2025. If the film was lucky enough to get a quota, its release would be delayed for at least one year.
Hooray Films’ founder Han T Sun hopes that the distribution rights can be extended to all Golden Horse-nominated films from mainland China, not just for best film or best director winners. “It’s necessary to make Q4 the awards season for the Golden Horse Awards titles,” he told Screen. “That could allow the films to be seen, increase the box office market and make the Golden Horse Awards more prestigious.”
An Unfinished Film is scheduled to open in 32 theatres across Taiwan, a sizeable release for an art house title. “The local audiences are very enthusiastic,” added Sun. “We know the film is still a title for art house crowds, but it’s been generating a lot of buzz on our social media. I think it will be an art house hit.”
The distribution executive expects some people from China might travel to Kinmen, a small Taiwanese island that lies just off the coast of China’s Fujian province, and people from Hong Kong will fly to Taiwan to watch the film. Due to its sensitive subject matter about the hard lockdown near the city of Wuhan in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the film is unlikely to be released in both territories.
Hooray Films has also lined up Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig for release after Chinese New Year. Sun said: “It’s a stunning companion piece to An Unfinished Film (un)intentionally. How Lou and Rasoulof turned those TikTok reels into two great films is fascinating, especially under this insane political climate we are living in.”
Some of his company’s biggest hits are The Worst Person In The World, Anatomy Of A Fall and Another Round.
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