The Taiwan Academy has formally submitted “A Foggy Tale” as the island’s official contender for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards. The announcement, made public this week, positions director Chen Yu-hsun’s 134-minute drama as the sole representative of Taiwanese cinema in the upcoming race.
The selection follows a period of intense internal deliberation among the awards committee, which weighed multiple qualifying titles before settling on the November 2025 release. “A Foggy Tale” has already carved out a notable footprint on the festival circuit, earning praise for its understated emotional weight and its unflinching look at a dark chapter in Taiwan’s history. The picture currently holds a robust 7.534/10 rating on TMDb, suggesting steady audience approval since its debut.
Set against the backdrop of political repression, the film follows Yue, a woman whose brother has been executed by the government. With little more than determination, she travels alone to Taipei to retrieve his body. There, she crosses paths with Chao Kung-tao, a discharged soldier adrift in the capital. What begins as a transactional alliance between two strangers slowly transforms into something deeper - a friendship forged in shared loss and the quiet desperation to survive a journey that may very well end in their own deaths.
Chen Yu-hsun, known for his ability to blend social critique with intimate character studies, directs from a script that leans heavily on atmosphere and silence. The fog of the title is not merely decorative; it functions as a recurring visual metaphor for the moral murkiness and emotional isolation that pervades the narrative. Early reviews have highlighted how the director resists melodrama, letting the weight of the situation settle naturally through extended takes and restrained performances.
The ensemble cast is anchored by Caitlin Fang, who portrays Huang Chiu-Yue with a brittle resolve that never tips into martyrdom. Opposite her, Will Or Wai-Lam delivers a measured turn as Chao Kung-tao, a man whose military past has left him both scarred and strangely pragmatic. The chemistry between the two leads has been singled out as a key strength, particularly in scenes where dialogue is minimal and the actors must carry the subtext through body language alone.
Supporting performances add texture to the narrative. 9m88 plays Chiu Hsiu-Hsia, a figure who enters the story late but shifts its trajectory, while Tseng Jing-hua appears as Huang Yu-Yun, providing a familial counterpoint to Yue’s solitary quest. Pan Li-li takes on the role of Old Yue, and Vivian Sung Yun-hua appears as Nian-Yun. The ensemble also includes Chen Yi-wen as Fan Chun and Emerson Tsai as Lee Erh-Hsiung, both of whom populate the world with a lived-in authenticity.
The Academy’s selection comes at a moment when Taiwanese cinema has been gaining increased visibility on the global stage, though it has yet to secure a win in the International Feature category. The island’s last nomination came more than two decades ago, and industry observers see “A Foggy Tale” as a potential breakthrough given its universal themes of grief and human connection, even as its specific historical context remains distinctly local.
Some festival programmers have noted that the film’s pacing may test mainstream audiences accustomed to more propulsive storytelling. But supporters argue that the deliberate rhythm is essential to the director’s vision - that the silence and stillness are the very point. The journey undertaken by Yue and Chao is not one of action but of endurance, and the film mirrors that in its structure.
The timing of the release, a late November 2025 debut, suggests the producers were already eyeing awards season. The official submission now places the film in a competitive field that will include entries from dozens of countries, with the shortlist expected to be announced later this year. Final nominations for the 99th Academy Awards are slated for early 2027, with the ceremony itself to follow.
For Chen Yu-hsun, this marks a return to the international spotlight after a career spent oscillating between commercial crowd-pleasers and more contemplative projects. Early reactions from industry insiders suggest that “A Foggy Tale” belongs firmly in the latter camp, and that its selection as Taiwan’s representative is a testament to the committee’s willingness to back artistic risk over safer, more conventional choices.
The film’s narrative, while specific in its political origins, resonates far beyond any single border. A woman seeking to bury her brother. A soldier with nowhere left to go. A road that could kill them both. In less skilled hands, such a story could easily devolve into cheap sentiment. Here, it is rendered with a quiet grace that leaves room for the audience to sit with discomfort rather than having it explained away.
As the Oscar race now unfolds, all eyes will be on how “A Foggy Tale” travels beyond Taiwanese shores. The selection is official, the campaign is underway, and the film now carries the weight of representing an entire national cinema on the world’s most prominent awards stage.
Source: Variety
