Top Korean visual effects house Dexter Studios is being recognized for its work in mainland China with the outfit’s technician KIM Wook picking up the Best VFX Prize at the 52nd Golden Horse Film Awards in Taipei for TSUI Hark’s The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D. KIM beat out the VFX teams behind fellow nominees Rise of the Legend, Wolf Totem, Gone with the Bullets and Monster Hunt, recently anointed as the most successful Chinese film of all time. From legendary HK film director and producer TSUI, The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D earned approximately USD 150 million in China last year.

 

The top award winner of the night was HOU Hsiao-Hsen’s The Assassin, which collected five prizes, with CHANG Tso-Chi's Thanatos, Drunk following just behind with four. The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D was also nominated, but did not win, for Best Director, Best Art Direction and Best Action Choreography.

 

Founded a few years ago by film director KIM Yong-hwa and KIM Tae-yong, formerly a consultant for Rhythm and Hues Studios, Dexter Studios was set up to facilitate the advanced graphics needs of KIM Yong-hwa’s 2013 baseball-playing gorilla family drama Mr. Go. Since then, they have worked both on Korean hits, such as The Pirates, and major Chinese pictures like Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon (2013) and The Money King (2014).

 

The awards took place in conjunction with the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, which this year welcomed three Korean films, including AHN Gooc-jin’s Alice In Earnestland, KWON Oh-kwang’s Collective Invention and HONG Sang-soo’s Right Now, Wrong Then.

 

Meanwhile, Dexter Studios is also involved in effects work for eight current or upcoming Chinese films, including LU Chuan’s Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe.