‘Island Of The Winds’, ‘Yen And Ai-Lee’ Take Top Prizes At Taipei Film Awards

Hsu Ya-Ting’s documentary Island Of The Winds was awarded with the Grand Prize and Best Documentary at this year’s Taipei Film Awards, while Tom Lin’s Yen And Ai-Lee took the Best Narrative Feature award.

Island Of The Winds, a co-production between Taiwan, Japan and France, follows the social movement around a leprosy sanatorium in Taiwan, which the filmmaker has been shooting for two decades.

The Taipei Film Awards jury selects one winner from each major catetory – Narrative Feature, Documentary, Short Film and Animation – and then chooses the NT$1m (US$34,500) Grand Prize winner from among them.

This year, Best Animation went to Huang Hsiao-shan’s Rocked By The Wind, about a high school student who skips study sessions to play the guitar, while Best Short Film went to Side A: A Summer Day, directed by Wan Kin-fai, which also won best live action short at last year’s Golden Horse Awards.

Among other winners, Thailand’s Wanlop Rungkumjad became the first non-Taiwanese recipient of best actor at the Taipei Film Awards for his role in Mongrel, which took three prizes in total, tying as the biggest winner of the night alongside Yen And Ai-Lee, Island Of The Winds and Dead Talents Society.

The Taipei Film Awards ceremony took place on July 5 at the close of the Taipei Film Festival (June 20-July 5), which also hosts the International New Directors Competition with winners announced on June 24. Lithuania’s Drowning Dry took home the Grand Prize and a cash award $10,000 in this competition, which had a separate jury headed by Golden Bell–winning screenwriter Mag Hsu (see more winners below).

Also in the International New Directors Competition, the Taiwan Directors Guild Award was presented to Empire Of The Rabbits, directed by Turkey’s Seyfettin Tokmak. This award was judged by three Taiwanese directors – Gilles Yang, Fen Fen Cheng and and Liao Shih Han.

TAIPEI FILM AWARDS 2025: 

Grand Prize: Island Of The Winds, dir: Hsu Ya-ting

Best Film - Documentary: Island Of The Winds, dir: Hsu Ya-ting

Best Film - Narrative Feature: Yen And Ai-Lee, Tom Lin Shu-yu

Best Film - Animation: Rocked By The Wind, dir: Huang Hsiao-shan

Best Short Film: Side A: A Summer Day, dir: Wan Kin-fai

Best Actor: Wanlop Rungkumjad, Mongrel

Best Actress: Alexia Kao, Family Matters

Best Supporting Actor: Lee Kang-sheng, Stranger Eyes

Best Supporting Actress: Yang Kuei-mei, Yen And Ai-Lee

Best New Talent: Alisia Liang, The Chronicles Of Libidoists

Outstanding Contribution Award: Chang Chang-yen (film critic)

INTERNATIONAL NEW DIRECTORS AWARDS 2025: 

Grand Prize: Drowning Dry, dir: Laurynas Bareiša (Lithuania)

Jury Special Prize: Two Times João Liberada, dir: Paula Tomás Marques (Portugal)

Taiwan Directors Guild Award: Empire Of The Rabbits, dir: Seyfettin Tokmak (Turkey)

Audience Choice Award: Family Matters, Pan Ke-yin (Taiwan)