Academy Awards Winners, Beloved Performers and Artists Behind The Scenes

World-Class Ensemble at the 2025 Golden Horse Master Class

The wait is over! Here comes another year of wonders with the acclaimed Golden Horse Master Class, collectively presented by Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee, Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development (BAMID, Ministry of Culture) and PEGATRON Corporation. This year’s lineup features eleven heavy-weight filmmakers, including Academy Awards winners, crowned actors and celebrated kingmakers: BAE Doo-na, NISHIJIMA Hidetoshi, Alexandre DESPLAT, Mark BRIDGES, Patrice VERMETTE, Gints ZILBALODIS, KIM Won-suk, Jean-Louis RODRIGUE, Deborah AQUILA, Onnalee BLANK and PARK Jin-young. They will all be in attendance at Golden Horse Film Festival for in-depth, unreserved talks derived from their outstanding filmmaking experiences.

BAE Doo-na has gained international reputation for her works with BONG Joon-ho and PARK Chan-wook, as well as collaborations with KORE-EDA Hirokazu and the Wachowskis. As The Host broke the domestic box office of Korea at that time, A Girl at My Door earned her Best Actress at the Asian Film Awards. NISHIJIMA Hidetoshi is known for his understated yet penetrating performances, not only praised by KITANO Takeshi and KUROSAWA Kiyoshi, but also earned him Best Actor at Japan Academy Film Prize for Drive My Car, Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film directed by HAMAGUCHI Ryûsuke. NISHIJIMA and BAE will have close-in, candid conversations with fellow filmmakers in Taiwan about how they digest the stories and transform into the ever-changing personas on the big screen.

In addition to the outstanding actors, the festival also introduces the pushing hands behind the moving performances: acting coach and casting director. Veteran acting coach Jean-Louis RODRIGUE has worked with Margot ROBBIE, Juliette BINOCHE and Leonardo DICAPRIO, and further assisted Ke Huy QUAN in his Academy Awards-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. RODRIGUE will present the Alexander Technique that explores the characters from the inner and outer landscapes. Casting director Deborah AQUILA has worked in abounding films like The Shawshank Redemption and La La Land and spotted rising stars like Edward NORTON and Adrien BRODY. She will introduce the Hollywood casting system with analysis on the core tasks for casting directors and the auditioning tips for actors.

Maestro of contemporary cinematic scoring Alexandre DESPLAT has over two hundred scoring works under his belt, and won over numerous prestigious awards, including two Academy Awards for The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water, and one Golden Horse Award for Lust, Caution. With the invitations by Golden Horse and Taipei Symphony Orchestra, DESPLAT will pay a visit to Taiwan and demonstrate how his musical notes tune in for the very essence of the stories and bring about the ultimate echoes of images and music. Golden Horse also cooperates with Netflix to invite director KIM Won-suk, the “master of details”, who helms the phenomenal K-Drama like When Life Gives You Tangerines, Signal and My Mister. KIM will share how he works to refine character portrayals and emotional depth, and to craft both heartrending and healing narrative arcs that continually elevated genre dramas to new heights.

In the field of visual presentation, we have talks on styling and looks, art direction and animation. Costume designer Mark BRIDGES is saluted by two Academy Awards and two BAFTA Awards for his achievements in The Artist and Phantom Thread. He also built the looks for Paul Thomas Anderson from Boogie Nights all the way to Licorice Pizza, as well the monochromic retro red suit on Joaquin Phoenix that brings Joker to life. BRIDGES will take a deep look into his definitive films and break down how the styling facilitates the actors in delivering and performing.

On the other hand, Academy Award-winning production designer Patrice VERMETTE will share his works on Café de Flore by Jean-Marc VALLÉE and Dune by Denis VILLENEUVE, which earned him the trophy, to demonstrate how the spatial dimensions may be translated into philosophical metaphor and thus become the key component of the cinematic narratives. Director-writer Gints ZILBALODIS, who created the phenomenal animation Flow, the global blockbuster that swept major animation awards in the Oscars, Golden Globe and César, will review his journey on independent filmmaking and the unique charm of animated narratives.

Re-recording mixer and supervising sound editor Onnalee BLANK has worked on over one hundred works that spanned varied genres, including Academy Award Best Picture Moonlight, and she won five Primetime Emmys for her works on Game of Thrones series, setting a high bar for female sound professionals. She will showcase mixing techniques for different genres to create immersive, punchy expressions. Director of Dexter Studios’ DI Dept., PARK Jin-young is named one of the top-tier colorists in Korea and has worked on Parasite: Black & White Edition, Decision to Leave and Exhuma. PARK will shed a light on developing the color palettes for cinema from the breakdown of script and plots.

Golden Horse Master Class and the Studio will take place between November 15th and December the 1st at Event Space of Taipei New Horizon and Vie Show Cinemas Taipei Hsin Yi. The events will be available to filmmakers, professionals and students in filmmaking and related fields. Registration to the events will open at 1 P.M. (GMT +8) on October 16th on the Events page of the festival’s official website. For more info, please check the official website, Facebook fan page, and Instagram.