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| A Foggy Tale Chosen to Represent Taiwan at the 2027 Oscars: How Was It Selected? (Photo: Weibo) |
A Foggy Tale (大濛), directed by Chen Yu-hsun (陳玉勳), has been selected as Taiwan’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, putting the acclaimed historical drama on the international awards road after an official selection process involving seven Taiwanese films.
The decision was announced by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, which said the selection committee chose A Foggy Tale by majority vote following extensive discussion and deliberation.
So, despite the glamour that eventually surrounds the Oscars, the first step is considerably less Hollywood: a domestic committee sits down, considers the eligible films and decides which one best represents the country on the international stage.
The committee highlighted A Foggy Tale for its vivid characters, fluid storytelling and distinctive portrayal of a particular period through the experiences of ordinary people.
Rather than treating history as something observed from a distance, the film puts everyday lives at the centre, giving its historical setting a distinctly Taiwanese perspective while still exploring emotions and moral questions that audiences elsewhere can recognise.
The film takes its title from the idea of heavy fog, which functions as more than simply an atmospheric detail. In the story, the fog becomes a metaphor for Taiwan during the 1950s White Terror era, a period marked by political uncertainty and pressure.
Through the lives of ordinary citizens, Chen explores how people attempt to maintain their humanity, relationships and sense of direction while history moves around them with considerably less concern for their personal plans.
That approach is particularly characteristic of Chen Yu-hsun, who combines a serious historical backdrop with the kind of everyday humour that prevents the film from becoming relentlessly solemn.
A Foggy Tale moves between warmth, sadness, morality and difficult choices, finding comedy in ordinary human behaviour without turning the historical setting into something trivial. It is a balancing act that could easily have gone wrong; here, the selection committee clearly felt the combination gave the film its distinctive voice.
The Oscar submission process itself is worth understanding because being chosen to represent Taiwan does not mean a film has already secured an Oscar nomination.
Taiwan first holds its own national selection process to determine which eligible production will be submitted to the Academy for consideration in the Best International Feature Film race. This year, seven Taiwanese films entered that domestic competition before the committee settled on A Foggy Tale after discussion and voting.
That distinction matters because the international category involves several stages after a country's submission is made. A film being selected by Taiwan therefore represents an important achievement, but it is the beginning of the Oscar campaign rather than its conclusion.
A Foggy Tale must still go through the Academy's international selection process alongside submissions from other countries before the final nominees are determined.
The choice is nevertheless backed by a strong record at home. A Foggy Tale has already collected major recognition across Taiwan, including four awards at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards.
Its wins included Best Narrative Feature, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Makeup and Costume Design, giving the film a particularly impressive showing across both storytelling and craft categories.
Its success continued at the 2026 Taipei Film Awards, where it took home five prizes. Among them were Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Original Film Song, Best Art Direction and Best Makeup and Costume Design. In other words, the film has not exactly been waiting quietly in the corner for someone to notice it.
The film has also begun building an international profile. It was selected for the main competition at Italy's Udine Far East Film Festival and has screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Singapore Chinese Film Festival.
Those appearances give A Foggy Tale an audience beyond Taiwan and could help international viewers understand why the film has become such a strong domestic contender.
At the heart of the story is its decision to view the White Terror era through ordinary people rather than simply presenting a broad historical account.
That perspective allows the film to focus on how major events affect families, friendships, personal choices and everyday survival. The result is a historical drama that is less interested in grand declarations than in what people actually do when circumstances become difficult.
That emphasis was central to the selection committee's praise. The Ministry of Culture said the film maintains a clear Taiwanese identity while creating emotional resonance that can cross national and cultural boundaries.
It is essentially the ideal argument for an international submission: tell a story that could only come from your own history, but make sure audiences who have never lived through that history can still understand the people inside it.
The film's combination of humour and history is another reason it has attracted attention. Chen Yu-hsun does not completely abandon the rhythms of ordinary life simply because the setting is historically heavy.
People still laugh, make questionable decisions, misunderstand one another and try to get through the day. That everyday texture gives the story a human quality, while the historical context gradually makes those apparently small choices carry much greater weight.
Fan reaction, naturally, has not been entirely uniform. Some viewers have welcomed the decision, particularly after the film's strong Golden Horse and Taipei Film Awards performances, arguing that its distinctly Taiwanese perspective could give it an advantage in an international field.
Others remain more cautious, pointing out that domestic awards and festival recognition do not necessarily translate into an Oscar nomination. That is a fair distinction: awards season has a habit of turning confident predictions into very complicated conversations.
There is also likely to be discussion around the film's historical subject matter. For some viewers, A Foggy Tale's strength lies precisely in its willingness to revisit a difficult chapter of Taiwan's history through intimate stories rather than relying solely on political exposition.
Others may find the film's mixture of humour and historical drama an unusual combination. Either way, its Oscar submission gives the film another opportunity to bring that particular perspective to audiences outside Taiwan.
The Ministry of Culture has also linked Taiwan's filmmaking environment to the country's democratic traditions, freedom and multicultural character, arguing that these foundations have helped support the continued development of its domestic film industry.
The selection of A Foggy Tale consequently carries significance beyond a single awards campaign: it places a distinctly Taiwanese historical story at the centre of the country's international cinematic representation.
The 99th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on 14 March 2027, but there is still a considerable journey ahead before the ceremony. For now, A Foggy Tale has cleared the first major hurdle by winning the domestic selection and becoming Taiwan's official submission for Best International Feature Film.
Whether A Foggy Tale eventually reaches the Oscar shortlist or goes further remains to be seen, but Taiwan has clearly chosen a film with a strong awards record, a recognisable national identity and a story built around ordinary people rather than conventional heroic figures. For viewers who have already watched it, does the film feel like the right choice to represent Taiwan, and for those who have not, is its Oscar run enough to put it on your watchlist?