HONG KONG — The Oscar success for kung-fu epic "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" gave Hong Kong's flagging movie industry a shot in the arm on Monday.
Hong Kong filmmakers said they hoped the winner of four Oscars would help the local movie industry set new standards and shake off a reputation for producing low-budget, low-quality, slapstick movies made to turn a quick profit.
"This movie is a benchmark and it shows that we must all be professional, that we must put together the best to create something of such high standards," Joe Cheung of Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild told Reuters.
The Mandarin-language "Crouching Tiger," which mixes gravity-defying martial arts with a heart-breaking love story, missed the top honors of best picture and best direction.
But it walked away with Oscars for best original music, best art direction, best cinematography and best foreign language film — a first for an Asian film.
Directed by Taiwan's Ang Lee and starring dashing Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat and former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh, "Crouching Tiger" has grossed more than $100 million in North American box offices, breaking records for a foreign film.
"Those who have been thinking it's all in the downturn, not worth doing, get new enthusiasm from a purely economic point of view but also from a creative point of view," said Richard Wooley, Dean of School of Television and Film of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
The school, which produces around 25 film graduates a year of various disciplines, expects to see better-quality students to start applying as a result of "Crouching Tiger."
Hong Kong can claim much credit for the success of the kung-fu epic, which was subtitled for Western markets.
The mesmerizing fighting scenes in "Crouching Tiger" that sent actors flying over rooftops, lakes and bamboo shoots are frequent fare in Hong Kong productions.
"Crouching Tiger's" martial arts director, Yuen Wo-ping, who also worked on "The Matrix" and "Charlie's Angel," has been choreographing Chinese kung-fu movies for over two decades and worked on a number of Jackie Chan hits.
Hong Kong talents Tim Yip and Peter Pau took the Oscars for best art direction and best cinematography, respectively.
Mainland Chinese musician Tan Dun won the Oscar for best original music.
The success has prompted renewed interest from investors and film makers, who previously were put off by Hong Kong's reputation for quick profits and fads.
"It's definitely given us a new platform to create a lot more opportunities because there is a very strong interest now," said actress Yeoh.
She has set up a new film company that will start shooting a movie on mainland China soon.
In the late 1980s, considered Hong Kong's golden filmmaking era, the territory produced about 150 films a year and enjoyed overwhelming success in Asia.
But problems emerged when crime syndicates muscled their way onto film sets to demand protection money and to operate copyright piracy rings. Quality plummeted.
The Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998 saw off any die-hard financiers or talented filmmakers.
It is yet to be seen if "Crouching Tiger" proves a turning point, but the film has hit home with moviegoers in Hong Kong.
Video rental chain Blockbuster said the Oscar awards for "Crouching Tiger" had sparked heavy demand on Monday.
"But we still have some copies left," the company said.