TAIPEI -- “After This Our Exile” ended helmer Patrick Tam’s 17-year hiatus from the director’s chair in style with wins for best picture, actor and supporting actor at Saturday’s 43rd Golden Horse Awards for ethnic Chinese productions.

Pic also underlines star Aaron Kwok’s transformation from singing idol to serious thesp. He won last year as well.

Kwok’s nine-year-old costar Gow Ian Iskander took support actor.

Thirteen-member jury headed by Taiwan film academic Chang Chang-yan offered an eclectic choice of winners on the night. Unlike past years, Taiwan pics held up especially well against their Hong Kong competition.

Entering the night with a leading 12 noms, Hong Kong helmer Peter Chan’s “Perhaps Love” won on conditional terms, bagging trophies for director, cinematography and original song. Star Zhou Xun took actress honors.

"After This" opens in Mainland China and Hong Kong on Thursday and in Malaysia and Singapore next month (Dec 7).

Relative newcomer Nikki Shie beat out established star Zhao Wei and vet Amy Chum to take support actress for Taiwan lesbian drama “Reflections.”

Evening’s most sentimental moment came when octogenarian Chen Zi-fu picked up a special award for the lost art of movie poster painting. As recently as five years ago, many Taiwan theaters still used hand-painted posters rather than slick one-sheets to advertise screenings.

“Do Over” and sound mixer Guo Li-chi picked up, respectively, the newly dubbed Formosa Film Award for Taiwan pic and the Formosa Filmmaker Award for home talent.

These two awards, previously tagged with the more innocuous “Taiwan” rather than the provocative “Formosa,” were in years past not part of the competish proper.

Further emphasizing the distinctly local bent of the awards ceremony, a long interlude devoted to a history of Taiwanese-lingo cinema introed these three awards reserved for Taiwan industryites.

Perhaps in protest of the additions to the evening’s program, mainland Chinese authorities withdrew helmer Tian Zhuangzhuang’s “The Go Master” from consideration a week before kudofest unrolled its red carpet.

“The Go Master” had earned four noms and star Chang Chen was considered a strong contender for actor.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and bristles at any attempt by the island to distinguish itself from the mainland.

Politics also motivated Taiwan helmer Tsai Ming-liang, known for his confrontational attitude toward local film authorities, to withdraw his pic, “I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone,” from competish and the run-up to kudofest, the Golden Horse Film Festival. Pic earned just two noms, for supporting actress and sound, which Tsai viewed as a snub.

Overall, however, the night was free of backstage controversies as it celebrated Chinese-language filmmaking and the success of ethnic Chinese filmmakers. Elder statesmen Ang Lee and John Woo were both in attendance and were singled out as success stories. Woo presented the trophy for best picture – a day after he gave out best picture honors at the Asia Pacific Film Festival in Taipei.

2006 Golden Horse Awards:

PICTURE: “After This Our Exile”

DIRECTOR: Peter Chan (“Perhaps Love”)

ACTOR: Aaron Kwok (“After This Our Exile”)

ACTRESS: Zhou Xun (“Perhaps Love”)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Gow Ian Iskander (“After This Our Exile”)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Nikki Shie (“Reflections”)

NEW PERFORMER: Bryant Chang (“Eternal Summer”)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Ning Hao (“Crazy Stone”)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Ning Dai, Zhang Yuan (“Little Red Flowers”)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Peter Pau (“Perhaps Love”)

EDITING: Chen Po-wen, Liu Chun-hsiu (“Do Over”)

SOUND EFFECTS: Tu Du-chih, Guo Li-chi, Ke Yi-jun (“amour-LEGENDE”)

ART DIRECTION: Tim Yip (“The Banquet”)

MAKEUP & COSTUME DESIGN: Tim Yip (“The Banquet”)

ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY: Ling Chun-pong, Wong Chi-wai (“Exiled”)

VISUAL EFFECTS: Foo Sing-choong (“Silk”)

ORIGINAL FILM SCORE: Lim Giong (“Do Over”)

ORIGINAL FILM SONG: Chris Shum, Leon Ko (“Perhaps Love”)

DOCUMENTARY: “My Football Summer”

SHORT FILM: “The Secret in the Wind”

FORMOSA FILM AWARD: “Do Over”

FORMOSA FILMMAKER AWARD: Guo Li-chi

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD: “Exiled”

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