Standing against the tide

"When we joined the company, we knew that it had lost money on its previous big-budget war films, so we suggested that the company hire new directors, use non-professional actors and make low-budget films," said Hsiao Yeh, who is also a well-known novelist and scriptwriter.

It was Hsiao Yeh who pushed through films like the The Sandwich Man (兒子的大玩偶) based on the stories of Huang Chun-ming (黃春明). With Hou Hsiao-hsien, he also wrote and produced Growing Up (小畢的故事), based on a story by Chu Tien-wen (朱天文), which became a hit in 1983.

Films such as these gained great critical success and established the foundations of the New Taiwan Cinema. Moreover, films by Hou and Edward Yang (楊德昌) began to gain an international reputation at film festivals.

"Now I look back, the company was like a dinosaur. It may have been very slow on its feet, but once the head changed direction, the body followed, and tremendous changes could happen. At that time, we were a bunch of idealists who made films that were somewhat against the KMT ideology. But we survived because we wanted to make good films," said Hsiao Yeh.

In the 1990s, the CMPC continues to invest in new films, giving opportunities to first-time filmmakers. Directors such as Ang Lee (李安), Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) and Lin Cheng-sheng (林正盛) made their first films with the support of CMPC.

"We are like a nursery garden that fostered new talents. Those people may not work with us anymore, but we have no regrets," said Chiu.

But he recognizes that the golden age has definitely passed.

Although CMPC continues to invest in filmmakers such as Ann Hu (胡安), Vivian Chang (章蕙蘭), annual production of local films has dropped below 10. Nevertheless, of the seven locally-produced feature films for 2000, six were CMPC productions.

"Other film companies have transformed themselves into distribution companies that only buy films from overseas for local distribution. But we, some might say foolishly, still continue making films," said Chiu.

With the KMT's loss of political power last year, the party began to privatize party assets in the face of criticism from the former opposition parties. Many of its properties have been sold off; but more importantly for its survival is the fact that it cannot hold on to the talent that it attracted in its days of glory. A highly bureaucratic corporate culture and the presence of unprofessional management groups have seen men like Tu Duu-chih (杜篤之) and cinematographer Lee Ping-bing (李屏賓) leave the company to become well-established artists in their own right.

"If the company wants to keep from shrinking," said Hsiao Yeh, "bringing in professional management or changing its corporate culture are the only two alternatives."