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Taiwanese social drama “No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti” won Chinese cinema’s top honor — a rare victory for an industry that has been overshadowed by big-budget blockbusters from rival mainland China.

While the self-ruled island that split from China in a 1949 civil war has produced world-class directors like Oscar winner Ang Lee and art-house standouts Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien, a younger generation of filmmakers has struggled to produce commercial hits. Meanwhile, China’s movie market has been booming, churning out lavish historical epics that have drawn talent from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

But the tables were turned at least for one night on Saturday, when a Taiwanese black-and-white film about a working-class single father who struggles to retain custody of his daughter clinched best picture and best director at the Chinese-language equivalent of the Oscars. Leon Dai’s “No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti” also won best original screenplay and outstanding Taiwanese film of the year at the 46th Golden Horse Awards.

While the annual event is held in Taiwan, it is Chinese film’s most representative award, drawing jurors from Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China.

“I especially want to thank this piece of land, Taiwan. It’s this land that nurtured this movie. And we have been working hard to use the nutrition we received to develop this land,” Dai said backstage.

Oscar best director winner Lee, who is now based in the United States, was on hand to witness the rare triumph of his home industry. Lee, whose first three films were made by the then state-run Taiwanese film company, Central Motion Picture Corp., presented Dai with his best director trophy along with Hou and Hong Kong directors Johnnie To and Stanley Kwan.

Dai not only directed the film but also produced, edited and wrote the screenplay — highlighting the difficulty Taiwanese filmmakers face in raising funds.

Dai beat more acclaimed rivals — including Malaysian art-house director Tsai Ming-liang and Hong Kong’s Clara Law as well as China’s Guan Hu. The independent film was shot in black and white and cost only 6 million Taiwan dollars ($185,000) to produce.

The best actor competition produced the first tie in the Golden Horse Award’s history, with jurors honoring both Hong Kong actor Nick Cheung and Chinese actor Huang Bo. Cheung was honored for his role as a former boxer who takes a kidnapping job so he can care for his sick wife in “The Beast Stalker.” Huang was recognized for his role in “Cow” as a man who tries to protect a dairy cow from Japanese soldiers who wiped out his fellow villagers in 1940s China.

Cheung, who also was named best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards earlier this year, told Huang backstage that he considered him a great rival after watching his performance and thought the tie was “the perfect ending.”

Huang said his was a difficult four-month shoot, with many scenes involving more than 100 takes, and jokingly thanked his co-star — the cow.

“I still want to thank my baby — my big dairy cow. I will give you some good feed when I get back,” he said.

Best actress went to China’s Li Bingbing for the thriller “The Message,’’ about Japanese invaders in China who try to ferret out a spy among their Chinese collaborators.

AP, AFP