Yao Anlian won the 38th Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF) Best Actor Award on Monday night for his role in Factory Boss, the only Chinese film in the World Competition -  Feature Films category of this year's festival. Yao is the first Chinese actor to win Best Actor at the MWFF since Fan Wei won the award in 2004 for his role in The Parking Attendant in July.

A work by Chinese mainland director Zhang Wei, Factory Boss takes a look at the manufacturing industry in Southeast China's Shenzhen, and how rising labor costs have stripped the city of its production advantages.  

The award didn't come as a surprise. As the film's examination of the Western capitalist economic system and the decline of the manufacturing industry in China has become a hot topic among local media outlets of late. The film had been screened three times during the festival, a rarity in festival history, with the last taking place on the festival's closing day.

According to a press release from the film's producers, after watching the film Serge Losique, founder and president of the MWFF, commented that Factory Boss is a work of historical significance that has brought a new understanding and examination of the Chinese manufacturing industry.

Receiving the award, Yao said that over the past nine years since he missed winning the Best Actor at Cannes for his role in director Wang Xiaoshuai's Shanghai Dreams, the loss has continually spurred him to try better, and that he has worked hard to perform in each role he has played to the best of his ability.

Yao said hat he was surprised after reading the script, because the role was very different from his original ideas of what a manufacturing boss would be like. Although he argued about the role with Zhang, he added that he still wanted to thank the director for giving him room to breathe in the role.

Factory Boss is set to premiere on the Chinese mainland on October 21.