Inner Mongolian director Zhang Dalei’s “The Summer Is Gone” stood out as an impressive dark horse by winning the coveted best picture award during the awarding ceremony of the 53rd Golden Horse Awards held at Taipei’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, in Taiwan, on Nov 26.

Zhang Dalei (right), director of the best picture “The Summer Is Gone”; Kong Weiyi (middle), a ten-year-old performer in this film; and Zhang’s father (left) present the trophy in front of the media spotlights after the ceremony of the 53rd Golden Horse Awards held at Taipei’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, in Taiwan, on Nov 26. [Photo/sina.com.cn]

“I dare not to accept this award; it’s too heavy to hold. Actually, it’s like a pilgrim journey for me to come to Taipei, and the Golden Horse Awards seems like a shrine that I have dreamt of since I was very young,” Zhang said at the awarding ceremony.

The film also picked up a best new performer award for Kong Weiyi, a ten-year-old boy who acted in this film, and the FIPRESCI prize awarded by a separate jury of critics.

Set in the 1990s, the film mainly tells the story of an ordinary family living in Inner Mongolia that has gone through a stormy transformation period in China, during which lots of national State-owned enterprises changed into modern market-oriented companies. Like many workers in State-owned companies, the family is inevitably involved in the reform during the summer. With the tranquil bloom of night-blooming cereus in their yard, perturbed waves of anxiety wash over these adults’ hearts.

The poster of “The Summer Is Gone” showcases a family of three sit on a duck-shaped boat for touring the lake in a summer of the 1990s in Inner Mongolia. [Photo provided to China Daily]

“The Summer Is Gone” was written and directed by Zhang, and produced by Zhang Jianhua. To create a sense of specific time, the film was photographed in black and white by Lv Songye.

Zhang Dalei, born in Inner Mongolia’s Hohhot in 1982, essentially grew up in the Inner Mongolia Film Studio, and his father was a renowned film editor. In 2000, Zhang went to Russia to study directing and cinematography at St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television. After graduation, Zhang participated in numerous film shoots and wrote screenplays; however, “The Summer Is Gone” is the first film he has both written and directed.

Established in 1962 in Taiwan, the Golden Horse Awards has gained much prestige and recognition in the world of Chinese language cinema. And its awards have been given to numerous extraordinary filmmakers among the Chinese film industry. This year, filmmakers from the Chinese mainland dominated the Golden Horse Awards on last Saturday night.

The film gala also included a red carpet with many drama stars as guests or award presenters, and a performance by several invited singers like Coco Lee and Singapore’s Stephanie Sun.

Kong Weiyi, a ten-year-old boy who acted in “The Summer Is Gone”, wins the best new performer award during the 53rd Golden Horse Awards held at Taipei’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, in Taiwan, on Nov 26. [Photo/Xinhua]