TAIPEI • Veteran Hong Kong actress Teresa Mo, who played the mother of an autistic young man in the movie Tomorrow Is Another Day (2017), won the Best Actress award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival last Saturday.
In the movie, she plays a housewife who takes care of her autistic son while facing marriage issues as her husband, played by actor Ray Lui, has an affair.
According to Taiwanese media reports, Mo's excellent portrayal of the great pressure faced by a strong mother received unanimous endorsement from the judges, who lauded it as a "perfect and faultless performance".
Other artists nominated for the Best Actress award included Taiwanese actresses Rainie Yang and Wu Ke-xi.
Mo also won the Best Actress award for the role at the Hong Kong Film Awards held in April this year.
Lui accepted the award on Mo's behalf last Saturday as the actress is currently in Canada accompanying her daughter for the new school semester. Lui was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award.
The Best Director award went to Myanmar-born Taiwanese director Midi Zhao for his movie The Road To Mandalay (2016).
The movie tells the story of two illegal immigrants in Thailand after they flee the civil war in Myanmar. It stars actress Wu and Taiwanese actor Kai Ko of You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011) fame.
Zhao rose to prominence four years ago when his film Ice Poison (2014) was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.
The Best Actor award went to Iran's Amir Ali Danaei for his role in the movie Appendix (2017).
Australian movie Lion (2016), directed by Garth Davis, won the Best Feature Film Award. It also won the Best Screenplay award.
The movie tells the story of an Indian boy who embarks on a journey to locate his roots 25 years after he was adopted by an Australian family.
It starred English actor Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire (2008) fame and Hollywood actresses Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara.
The Best Supporting Actor award went to Dido de la Paz of Philippines for Respecto (2017), while the Best Supporting Actress award went to Iran's Soraya Ghasemi for Villa Dwellers (2017).
The Asia-Pacific Film Festival was held in Taiwan for the first time in eight years. The ceremony was hosted by television personality David Wu and Taiwanese artist Sandy Wu.
• Tomorrow Is Another Day will be screened on Sept 22 at GV Tiong Bahru and on Sept 29 at GV Tampines as part of the Minds Film Festival 2018.
