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Hou Hou Hsien has finally acquired significant funds for his martial arts epic. This will be a total departure from his slow dramatic moments and almost static camerawork. He is closing in on his first big budget film.

The Taiwan government has supplied him with funds from the National Development Fund. It is a first for any Taiwanese director. So the money will be surely put to good use.

The NDF will provide him with 2.6 million dollars of a budget already hitting around 8.65 million which would automatically be a record for a Taiwanese movie. The final decision on the funding was taken by Albert Lin.

The GIO had also agreed to a further 480,000 dollars. Hwarng Wern-ying, producer at Hou’s Sinomovie Co., said that the NDF coin now puts the film in a position to crank up production. “Pre-production will start on Oct. 1, with the exact date of production in early 2009 depending on cast and crew availabilities,” she said.

The film is still looking at tentative titles for its movie. Some of the choices are Nie Yin Niang and The Hidden Heroine. It is based on a legend of a girl who after being kidnapped by nuns begins to use illusions and martial arts skills in her adult life to challenge the male world.

Cast is expected to be headed by Shu Qi (”The Transporter,” “The Eye 2,”) and Chang Chen (”Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Red Cliff”). Pair previously co-starred in Hou’s romantic drama “Three Times.”

Presentation of the project by Hou was one of the highlights of the Pusan Festival’s co-production sidebar. At that stage CMC Movie Corp., the production offshoot of Taiwan’s leading video distributor CMC Magnetics Corp, was announced as a major investor, but the company has dropped out of the financing mix. Hwarng says that CMC Movie has now been replaced by other investors, although she was not at liberty to divulge their identities. An international sales agent has yet to be appointed.

But this is surely going to beef up the Taiwanese film industry. The industry is still cluttered up with Hollywood films that make more than 90 percent of the grosses. The news of the film will surely make the industry take a little more interest in its box office fare.