Gold Open Celebrates API in Film with Inaugural Gold List

Gold Open, the Gold House-movement to push box office success for multicultural films, and CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) have launched their own list honoring the most outstanding Asian and Pacific Islander achievements in film called the Gold List.

Due to the lack of inclusion of Asian-led films by the Academy and many major awards, the Gold List was created to recognize and highlight the achievements made by API in film. In the Academy’s history, only four films with Asian leads have won the Best Picture Award, but only 25% ever received an acting nomination, let alone win an award.

Bing Chen, President and co-founder of Gold House, said in a press release, “Gold List seeks to modernize the industry’s embrace of today’s audiences by mitigating the discrepancy between APIs’ creative and commercial excellence versus their dearth of critical honors. By ensuring filmmakers and talent receive due recognition, the increased awareness allows for more inclusive content which benefits all multicultural audiences.”

The Gold List features 10 categories that have been voted by the Gold Open Advisory Council, Gold House members, CAPE Board Members and Advisors, and other API entertainment leaders.

The full list of Gold List selections are below:

Best Picture

Minari and Sound of Metal

Honorable Mentions: The Half of It, The White Tiger, Yellow Rose

Best Director

Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)

Honorable Mentions: Ramin Bahrani (The White Tiger), Diane Paragas (Yellow Rose), Alice Wu (The Half of It), Alan Yang (Tigertail)

Best Actor

Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) and Steven Yeun (Minari)

Honorable Mentions: Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger), Dev Patel (The Personal History of David Copperfield), Harry Shum Jr. (All My Life)

Best Actress

Yeri Han (Minari) and Leah Lewis (The Half of It)

Honorable Mentions: Hong Chau (Driveways), Tsai Chin (Lucky Grandma), Eva Noblezada (Yellow Rose)

Best Supporting Actor

Alan Kim (Minari) and Orion Lee (First Cow)

Honorable Mentions: Lucas Jaye (Driveways), Tzi Ma (Mulan), Rajkummar Rao (The White Tiger)

Best Supporting Actress

Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) and Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)

Honorable Mentions: Priyanka Chopra Jonas (The White Tiger), Gong Li (Mulan), Lea Salonga (Yellow Rose)

Best Original Screenplay

Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) and Alice Wu (The Half of it)

Honorable Mentions: Mong-Hong Chung and Yao-Sheng Chang (A Sun), Diane Paragas (Yellow Rose), Isabel Sandoval (Lingua Franca), Alan Yang (Tigertail)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Ramin Bahrani (The White Tiger) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)

Best Documentary Feature

Be Water and A Thousand Cuts

Honorable Mentions: 76 Days, The Donut King, The Social Dilemma

Best Animated Feature

Bombay Rose and Over the Moon

Honorable Mentions: Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, On-Gaku: Our Sound, A Whisker Away

In honor of these selections, Gold House and CAPE have featured a slate of exclusive conversations with several of the stars and filmmakers, including:

All My Life (Harry Shum Jr.)
Be Water (Bao Nguyen, Shannon Lee, W. Kamau Bell, Jeff Chang)
The Donut King (Alice Gu)
Lingua Franca (Isabel Sandoval)
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung, Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan Kim, Yuh-Jung Youn, Noel Cho)
Mulan (Niki Caro, Yifei Liu, Yoson An, Jason Scott Lee, Tzi Ma, Rosalind Chao, Ron Yuan, Xana Tang)
Over the Moon (Cathy Ang, Janet Yang, Peilin Chou, Gennie Rim)
Sound of Metal (Riz Ahmed)
The White Tiger (Adarsh Gourav, Ramin Bahrani)
Yellow Rose (Diane Paragas, Eva Noblezada, Lea Salonga, Princess Punzalan)