Gold House and CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) have released their third annual Gold List to guide voters ahead of the awards race by spotlighting and honoring outstanding work by Asian filmmakers and talent in the past year, as voted on by the community’s top creatives and leaders.
A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” tops the Gold List with five honors, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director (Daniels aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Performance in a Leading Role (Michelle Yeoh), Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Ke Huy Quan) and several honorable mentions.
“It has been an incredible year for AAPI stories pushing the boundaries of expectations for what an Asian American story can be,” said honoree Daniel Kwan, writer-director of “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” “Through films like ‘Turning Red,’ ‘After Yang,’ ‘Umma’ and many more, we are getting a taste of what it looks like for our stories to be refracted through the many prisms of genre and experimentation, a privilege once only reserved for storytellers not stuck in the margins. I, along with the rest of the ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ family, are so honored to be a part of this moment for our community, and can’t wait to see what happens next,” he added.
“Since its inception just 2 years ago, 15 Gold List honorees have gone on to receive Academy Award wins or nominations,” said Jeremy Tran, Executive Director and COO of Gold House. “Chloé Zhao, Youn Yuh-jung and Riz Ahmed’s history-making wins, to name a few, underscore why vehicles like the Gold List that celebrate the most impactful creative achievements from and among the Asian community are essential signals that generate new creative development, production, and distribution opportunities for traditionally unrecognized communities.”
“The tides of authentic representation and storytelling are gradually and steadily turning as illustrated by this year’s impressive list,” added Michelle K. Sugihara, Executive Director of CAPE. “While incredible films and performances led by diverse artists have long-existed, they were often overlooked by Hollywood. The Gold List was created to accelerate much-needed change during the awards season by highlighting the year’s best Asian-led films across mainstream and grassroots campaigns.”
Academy Award wins for Michelle Yeoh or Ke Huy Quan would make history — no person of East, South or Southeast Asian descent has ever won Best Actress, and the last (and only) actor of Asian descent to win Best Supporting Actor was Haing S. Ngor in 1984 for “The Killing Fields.”
“Everywhere All At Once” has already had a strong start this awards season with Yeoh and Quan nabbing acting honors at the 80th Annual Golden Globes on Jan. 10. The next day, the duo received SAG Award nominations — as well as their costars Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis.
That bodes well for the biggest prize — the Oscars. Voting for the Academy Awards opens on Jan. 17.
How to Watch ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
Check out the Gold List honorees below (this year’s list introduced gender-neutral acting categories):
Best Picture
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Honorable Mentions: “Decision to Leave” and “RRR”
Best Director
Daniels (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Honorable Mentions: Park Chan-wook (“Decision to Leave”) and S.S. Rajamouli (“RRR”)
Best Performance in a Leading Role
Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Honorable Mentions: N.T. Rama Rao Jr. (“RRR”), Park Hae-il (“Decision to Leave”), Ram Charan (“RRR”), Song Kang-ho (“Broker”), Tang Wei (“Decision to Leave”)
Best Performance in a Supporting Role
Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Honorable Mentions: Dolly De Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”), Gemma Chan (“Don’t Worry Darling”), Hong Chau (“The Whale”), Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Steven Yeun (“Nope”)
Best Original Screenplay
Daniels (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Honorable Mentions: Domee Shi and Julia Cho (“Turning Red”) and Park Chan-wook and Jeong Seo-kyeong (“Decision to Leave”)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Kazuo Ishiguro (“Living”)
Honorable Mention: Kogonada (“After Yang”)
Best Animated Feature
“Turning Red”
Honorable Mention: “Inu-Oh” and “Run, Tiger, Run!”
Best Documentary Feature
“Bad Axe”
Honorable Mentions: “All That Breathes” and “Hidden Letters”
Best Original Song
“Naatu Naatu” by M.M. Keeravani, Kaala Bhairava, and Rahul Sipligunj (“RRR”)
Honorable Mentions: “New Body Rhumba” by Nancy Whang, Pat Mahoney, and James Murphy (“White Noise”) and “This Is A Life” by Son Lux, Mitski, and David Byrne (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”)
Best Live Action Short
“Moshari”
Honorable Mentions: “Lori” and “The Gift”
Best Animated Short
“Love, Dad”
Honorable Mentions: “7 Lbs 8 Oz” and “Bird in the Peninsula”
Best Documentary Short
“38 At The Garden”
Honorable Mentions: “As Far as They Can Run” and “The Elephant Whisperers”
Breakout Performance
Dolly De Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Breakout Independent Film
“Joyland”
For more information about the Gold List, visit thegoldlist.org.
To learn more about Gold House and CAPE, click on their names respectively.