The dark family drama “A Sun” (Yang Guang Pu Zhao) (陽光普照) directed by Chung Mong-hong (Godspeed) has been selected as Taiwan’s entry in the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards.

The film was selected from among 18 candidates by a panel convened by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development under the Culture Ministry, which praised the film for its “memorable and moving portrayal of parent-child relations,” the statement said.

The film starring Chen Yi-wen, Samantha Ko, Wu Chien-ho, and Liu Kuan-ting, premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and also screened at the Busan International Film Festival along with the Tokyo International Film Festival. It received 11 nominations at the 56th Golden Horse Awards “Taiwan’s Oscars”, winning Best Feature Film, Best Director for Chung, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing and the Audience Choice Award.

Described by the Toronto International Film Festival as “Melancholic and lyrical, yet interspersed with sudden outbursts of genre immersions,”A Sun follows a troubled family of four. A-Ho, the younger son, has always been a problematic child, and his father, A-Wen has invested all his hopes and expectations in his introverted eldest son, A-Hao. While A-Hao is trying to get into medical school, A-Ho faces juvenile detention for a crime committed with his best friend — although not entirely of his own will. A-Wen abandons A-Ho, refusing to help and even requesting the judge to sentence his son as harshly as possible. Not long after A-Ho is sent to prison, to make matters worse, his girlfriend shows up on his mother Qin’s doorstep. The teenage girl is pregnant and determined to have A-Ho’s child, even though he is locked up and has no idea she is expecting.

The Oscars ceremony will be held April 25, 2021, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic from its previously scheduled February 28 date.