Singapore - It was a historic night for Singapore film at the 50th Golden Horse Awards, held at the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. Director Anthony Chen’s multiple award-winning intimate family drama Ilo Ilo was the biggest winner of the night, clinching a total of four of the six major awards it was nominated for, including Best Film, Best New Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Yeo Yann Yann.

It was initial shock followed by utter joy for Team Ilo Ilo, as the film took home the highest accolade of the night - Best Feature-Film - beating out films from critically acclaimed veteran directors such as Wong Kar Wai, Tsai Ming-liang, Johnnie To and Jia Zhangke.

Often dubbed as the Oscars of Chinese-language cinema, being honoured at the prestigious Golden Horse Awards is a real coup not only for the Cannes Film Festival Camera d’Or winning movie, but for Singapore film as well.

“It’s been a very surreal evening and I don’t know what I really feel right now,” Chen told TODAY over the phone after his Best New Director and Best Original Screenplay wins. ”So glad that we came in without any expectations and now we are bringing back these awards for Singapore! I think it’s an amazing moment, and we have turned a whole new chapter for Singapore cinema. And I hope this will encourage more young filmmakers to pursue their dreams and hopefully they will continue this, and we will have a wonderful new wave of Singapore cinema.”

In his acceptance speech, Chen was understandably emotional. “We are from a really small country, and made a film of the smallest scale and even smaller budget … I never would have imagined that we would win Best Feature Film at the Golden Horse Awards,” said Chen, who quipped that he finally got to “shake Lee Ang’s hand”.

“This is not only a win for us, it’s a win for our country,” agreed producer Yuni Hadi, who was on stage along with the rest of the cast.

Chen also paid homage to his fellow nominees, saying how they were all masters of cinema whom he spent all his time learning from, before he and his cast bowed to the audience of film veterans out of respect. “Thank you so much for the honour, for opening up the Mandarin cinema world’s eyes to Singapore film and for opening a new page in Singapore film,” he said on stage. “This will certainly encourage young Singaporean film directors to follow their dreams.”

Armed with these momentous four Golden Horse wins, Ilo Ilo is well on its way to making history once again as it continues its bid to become the first Singapore film to be nominated for — and possibly win — that elusive Oscar and Golden Globe.