China has snubbed it and only a handful of Hong Kong films are on the slate. With entries from the Asian film industry's two powerhouses mostly absent from tonight's Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, will Singapore nominees - the drama Wet Season and mystery A Land Imagined - have higher chances of victory at Asia's most prestigious film awards?

Taiwan-born documentary-maker Fu Yue's speech at last year's ceremony, voicing hopes that Taiwan "will one day be treated as a genuine independent entity", caused China - which sees self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory - to boycott this year's event. Fearing retaliation, some Hong Kong film producers have also withdrawn their work.