Taiwanese director Liao Hsiang- hsiung (廖祥雄), who pioneered several policies to improve the film industry in Taiwan when he worked for the government, passed away on Saturday at the age of 89, the Taipei-based Chinese Society of Cinematographers said yesterday.
Born on Dec. 3, 1933, Liao worked as a filmmaker before entering the Executive Yuan’s now-defunct Government Information Office in the 1980s.
Liao initially served as a deputy chief at the Cabinet-level agency’s audiovisual department before heading the film regulator, where he pioneered several policies that benefited Taiwan’s film industry.
As a filmmaker, Liao pushed for broader inspection and rating procedures for films, and cemented regulations overseeing government funding for filmmakers.
He also tried to make the Golden Horse Awards, the world’s oldest annual celebration of film in the Chinese-speaking world, more internationally inclusive.
Having studied broadcasting in Japan and filmmaking in San Francisco in the early 1960s, Liao later headed the media section of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan.
Liao made a number of films, such as the 1971 movie Love Can Forgive and Forget (真假千金), which was the runner-up for Best Feature Film at the 10th Golden Horse Awards in 1972 following martial arts legend Bruce Lee’s (李小龍) kung-fu classic Fist of Fury (精武門).
Japan-based veteran actress Judy Ongg (翁倩玉) the same year won her only Golden Horse Best Actress award for her role in Love Can Forgive and Forget.
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