Many fans of Taiwan cinema can reel off the works of leading directors such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang. But mention the name of Peggy Chiao - also known as Hsiung-Ping Chiao - and often you will be met by blank expressions.
Yet film critic, filmmaker and film academic Chiao, who was born in 1953 in Taipei, played a leading role in shaping Taiwan new cinema in the 1980s and 1990s. Her work as mentor to directors such as Hou and Yang earned her the title "Mother of Taiwan new cinema."
And since the 1980s she has also championed cinema from China's mainland, most recently supporting young mainland directors, organizing film festivals and publishing books.
"My parents were from China's mainland, and to me it's natural to come back," Chiao told Shanghai Daily at the Campus Film Festival at Nanchang University, in central China's Jiangxi Province, last month.
Chiao's father came from Shanxi Province and her mother was a Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region native. The couple moved to Taiwan in 1949.
Now Chiao is art director of the Campus Film Festival and Honorary Dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television at Nanchang University.
But these are just two of many hats this polymath of cinema wears.
Having studied journalism in National Chengchi University in Taiwan, she went to the United States to study for a master's degree in radio, television and film from the University of Texas, Austin, and a PhD in film from University of California, Los Angeles.
Chiao started her film career as a 25-year-old film critic writing columns for newspapers. Later she became a filmmaker, producing award-winning films such as "Beijing Bicycle," "The Hole," "Blue Gate Crossing," "Betel Nut Beauty," "The Drummer," and "Portrait of Hou Hsiao Hsien."
Among her many creative and administrative works, Chiao served as chair of the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan in 2007 and 2008. She works often as a juror for film festivals including Berlin, Venice, Rotterdam, San Sebastian, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Singapore and Fukuoka.
She is also the author of many publications.
And next, the ever-busy Chiao will publish more books on cinema and start work on a collection about relations across the Taiwan Strait, which will involve 10 recent movies.
The Campus Film Festival at Nanchang University, which attracted names such as Xie Fei, famed director and professor of Beijing Film Academy, was not the first time Chiao has worked with a young film festival on China's mainland.
Last October she was a jury member at the student-run Hangzhou Asian Film Festival in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
The mother of Taiwan new cinema sees her role as helping young filmmakers on China's mainland and Taiwan.
"I like those young people who are full of passion for cinema. They're working at a time when the film industry is on the rise in their country."
However, Chiao cautions the mainland industry not to put profit before product.
"It's common for investors to see a film simply as a money-making machine. They think all they need to draw audiences is a big scene, special effects, some stars and a formulaic storyline," Chiao said.
"I cannot allow this, otherwise audiences will lose taste."
In her efforts to nurture audience tastes, Chiao hopes to see more arthouse films shot and shown on China's mainland.
"If audiences find that low-budget art films can make as big an impression on them as big movies, they will stop and think, and there will be hope," Chiao said.
As a reviewer in the early 1980s, Chiao championed new Taiwan cinema, heaping high praise on Hou, known for his elliptical and slow storytelling style, and who became the leading figure of Taiwan's New Wave.
In 1981, on returning to Taiwan Chiao organized awards that saw Hou's "The Green, Green Grass of Home" take the top prize.
Later Chiao said Hou was taken aback by the recognition, and that this encouraged him to pursue his own style.
In the years that followed, Chiao was a cheerleader for Hou's work internationally. In 1989, Hou's "A City of Sadness" won the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Taiwan cinema found further international success when Edward Yang's 1986 multi-narrative urban thriller "The Terrorizers" (1986) won a Silver Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.
During this time, Chiao was acting as saleswoman, translator and activist rolled into one, showing up at influential film festivals to promote Taiwan cinema.
Chiao was also the first person of that era to bring movies from China's mainland to Taiwan, following a time when mainland books and films were banned there.
"The first time I saw a movie from China's mainland was in 1981 when I watched 'This Life of Mine' in Hong Kong."
Chiao found Shi Hui's 1950 movie about the life of an old police officer extremely moving, and through her tears vowed to learn more about mainland movies.
She collected video tapes of mainland films in foreign countries, smuggling tape back to Taiwan without any casing or packaging for fear customs would seize them.
At first Chiao organized private film parties in her home to show mainland movies. Then in the late 1980s when restrictions eased, she began writing about mainland movies in her newspaper column.
Chiao has done for mainland directors what she did for Taiwan directors in the past. She has translated, lobbied and promoted. Once for a Hong Kong film festival, Chiao sent jackets to some mainland directors who didn't have suitable attire for the event.
Despite the unstinting help she has offered so many filmmakers, Chiao plays down her role.
"I really don't think I'm a 'mother.' What I actually do is support directors," Chiao insisted.
As to her future plans, Chiao has no doubt where they lie.
"My interests are wide and I do not like to repeat things, so I have many things to do. My ambition is to help improve the Chinese film industry - the more the better."