The company was eager to win awards and had the technical personnel he needed. Yang raced to finish the film in November 2003, but in the end, Hong Kong movies came out on top again that year at the Golden Horse Awards. CMPC was very disappointed when Taipei 21 received no nominations.
二○○二年他以《台北二一》和擁有技術人才、又想「蒐集影展獎牌」的中影合作，並趕在二○○三年十一月拍完，結果當年金馬獎依舊是港片獨占鰲頭，《台北二一》一項獎項都沒入圍，讓中影很失望。