15 Aug – The controversy surrounding Namewee's video clip about Datuk Lee Chong Wei's match against China's badminton champion Lin Dan may turn out to be for the best for the rapper cum director and actor after all, as his latest, "Hantu Gangster", is set to participate in Taiwan's 49th Golden Horse Awards.
According to Film Business Asia, Namewee's "Hantu Gangster" is one of the nine feature films that have applied for entry in the prestigious event, among the 117 features submitted from across the Chinese cinema region.
Described as "the most controversial film in Malaysian history", the comedy tells the story of a race war between three gangs of different races, and caught in the middle of it is a lowly thief named Te Sai (Namewee). Te Sai becomes involved when he comes into possession of a ring that turns out to be haunted by the ghosts of the three gang leaders, who task him with restoring peace to the neighbourhood.
However, it seems that Namewee is not one to be easily satisfied. The director-actor has also submitted his third directorial feature, "Kara King", for consideration. The musical stars legendary Taiwanese singer Gao Ling Feng opposite veteran Hong Kong actor Ng Mang Tat, and is expected to be released in Malaysia during Chinese New Year in 2013.
Further, Namewee is also featured in another submission, James Lee's "Petaling Street Warriors" as an actor who plays the younger brother of the heroine (Yeo Yann Yann) with a speech impediment.
Aside from "Hantu Gangster", the list of submissions includes Gibert Chan's horror "23:59", Yoko Chou's melodrama "Tears Of The Mom" and Adrien Teh's romantic comedy "The Wedding Diary".
The high number of Malaysian submissions reflects the growing strength of the industry in the past eighteen months at the box office. On the other hand, it should be noted that the regulations of the awards had been relaxed two years ago to permit films with five or more main creative crew of Chinese origin and films with less than half of its dialogue in a Chinese dialect.
The nominations shortlist will be announced on 2 October. The nominees will have a single public screening during the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (23-28 Nov) with the awards ceremony held on 24 November in Yilan City.
Below is the list of 2012's Golden Horse Awards submissions from Malaysia:
"23:59", directed by Gilbert Chan
"3x Trouble", directed by Patrick Yau
"Greedy Ghost", directed by Boris Boo
"Hantu Gangster", directed by Namewee
"Kara King", directed by Namewee
"Paper Moon" directed by Stanley Law
"Petaling Street Warriors", directed by James Lee
"Tears of the Mom", directed by Yoko Chou
"The Wedding Diary", directed by Adrian Teh