Previous ceremonies saw the awards split between Hong Kong and the handful of Taiwanese "New Cinema" directors able to find finance in the country's ailing film industry. The new rules certainly had an effect on the prizes. In the Heat of the Sun, a China/Hong Kong co-production, took six awards, including Best Film, Best Director (Jiang Wen), and Best Actor, a prize which saw Xia Yu repeating his Venice win. Politics or personal diplomacy saw the cast and crew of the film - which was at one time banned in China - absent from the ceremony.

Another mainland Chinese director to take an award was Zhang Zeming, who won the Best Original Screenplay for Foreign Moon, a Hong Kong production.

The remaining prizes were split down the middle with Hong Kong and Taiwan taking five each. Josephine Siao took the Best Actress award for the second year in a row for her portrayal of a tough Cantonese opera star in Hu-Du-Men, while Davood Fabrizie (Best Original Song/A Floating Life) became only the second non-Chinese to win an award - the first was Aussie DoP Christopher Doyle, who picked up Best Cinematography in 1994.

The 33rd instalment of the Awards is the second year running that the Golden Horse has seen organisational changes: last year there were modifications to the voting procedure, while this year saw an overhaul of the administrative structure. In spite of this, some important Taiwanese films seemed to slip through the net. Hou Hsiao-hsien's Goodbye, South, Goodbye saw only one nomination (soundtrack) while Wu Nien-jen's Buddha Bless America was nowhere to be found. This could be down to aesthetic concerns, but is more likely to be a result of in-fighting in Taiwan's fractious industry. Richard James Havis