Mainland Chinese films banned from joining Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards

China’s film authority has banned mainland Chinese movies, directors and stars from participating in Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-speaking world’s version of the Oscars.A statement on a Chinese newspaper The Paper‘s(澎湃新聞) Weibo account has cited a statement from The China Film Administration, saying Chinese films and their personnel have been banned from joining the awards with no reason given.However, commenters have pointed out that this is possibly related to some controversial moments that took place at last years awards. These included comments by Taiwanese director Fu Yue saying that she hoped Taiwan could be treated as an independent country. And after Fu’s speech, Chinese actor Tu Men said on stage that he was very honoured to come to Taiwan, China to present the prize.There were speculations after that award show, that China was considering banning Chinese movies, stars and directors from joining future editions of the Golden Horse Awards.This year the Golden Horse Awards will take place in Taipei on 23 November, while China will host the Golden Rooster Awards – the mainland’s own awards event – on the same day.Months later and this new ban announcement comes as tensions between Beijing and Taiwan have risen to a recent high, arriving hot on the heels of last week’s halt on the issuance of individual Taiwan travel permits to Chinese travellers.