The 57th Golden Horse Awards has seen a number of nominees from Singapore this year.

The film festival, founded in 1962, is widely recognised as the Chinese equivalent of the Oscars.

There were 40 nominated films competing in 23 categories, with the ceremony held on the night of Nov. 21.

Five Singaporean nominees, two won

Two Singapore films have seen nominations this year. They are heartwarming comedy "Number 1" and thriller film "Precious is the Night".

While public attention was mostly focused on "Number 1", "Precious is the Night" was also nominated for two awards.

The film, a Taiwanese-Singapore collaboration, was set in 1960s Singapore and features "a bevy of Singaporean talent", Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Edwin Tong, said in his Facebook and Instagram posts.

Its producer Lim Sau-hoong was nominated for Best Makeup and Costumes while director Wayne Peng was in the running for Best Cinematography.

The award ceremony concluded with two wins for Singapore.

Singaporean fashion designer Azni Samdin won Best Makeup and Costume Design with fellow Malaysian stylist for "Number 1" Raymond Kuek.

Singaporean lawyer Tan Boon Wah also won the Best Original Film Song for composing and writing the lyrics for the song "Your Name Engraved Herein" with two other Malaysian songwriters.

Tan, who wrote "Your Name Engraved Herein", was Tong's ex-colleague at law firm Allen and Gledhill.

Tong also comforted Mark Lee who was nominated for "Best Actor" with his role in "Number 1" but lost to Taiwanese actor Mo Tzu-yi eventually.

Tong said that Lee has won the hearts of Singaporeans, and that he will be "back up again."

A recognition for local talents, hope more will be inspired to come forward

Tong added that the nominations and awards are a form of recognition for the hard work and dedication that the local talents have put into their crafts.

He hopes that others will be inspired to come forward.

The minister congratulated all nominees and added that they are all winners in Singaporeans' eyes.

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Top image via Edwin Tong's Facebook and MM2/Facebook