Directors prepare to battle at Golden Horse

So the GHA is the only award able to bring Lee, Wong and Chinese filmmakers to compete in the same arena.

Strong contenders

Chinese American filmmaker Ann Hu's Shadow Magic (西洋鏡), which is nominated in seven categories, could be the dark horse for best picture this year. Shadow Magic is an intriguing East-meets-West movie that depicts how foreigners helped make China's first silent movie in the days of imperial China.

There are two other Hong Kong contenders for best picture. Jonnie To's (杜琪鋒) gripping action film The Mission, which won To best director honors at last year's Hong Kong Film Awards, and Fruit Chan's (陳果) Little Cheung (細路祥), which won an award at the Lucarno Film Festival.

The only purely Taiwanese film is Chen Yi-wen's The Cabbie (運轉手之戀), which is a romantic comedy about a young taxi driver, and it does not feature in the most high-profile competitions.

"The Mission is a well-made, very enjoyable film," said film critic Regina Ho (何瑞珠), but suggested that as gangster films are not a popular genre with the GHA, it may get pushed out of contention.

Ho and Wen predict that Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung will take the two top acting awards this year. Both play in Wong Kar-wai's exquisite "mood movie" In the Mood For Love.

Despite an outstanding performance, Cheung, as the winner of three previous best actress awards, will face stiff competition from either Zhang Zi-yi (章子怡) or Michelle Yeoh, both of whom star in Crouching Tiger, Wen said.

Also worth noting are two made-in-Taiwan films by young filmmakers. Hung Chih-yu's surprising debut Pure Accidents (純屬意外), an urban comedy about a man's fantasy of extra-marital affairs. The film gave Chu Chung-heng (屈中恆) a nomination for best actor, and Suzanne Hsiao(蕭淑慎) for best supporting actress. Vivian Chang's Hidden Whisper has Hsia Ching-ting nominated for best supporting actor.

Unlike their predecessors, Ho Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), who presented their works as masterpieces, these local newcomers seem less self-consciously out to make art. "They have a stronger desire to communicate with the audience," Wen Tien-hsiang said.