Renowned Taiwan filmmaker Ang Lee is the winner of this year’s British Academy of Film and Television Arts Fellowship for his outstanding contributions to cinema, the London-based organization announced April 6.
According to BAFTA, Lee is one of the world’s most pioneering and respected contemporary filmmakers whose diverse and groundbreaking works have been highly acclaimed throughout his producing, writing and directing career. He will be honored during the 74th British Academy Film Awards set for April 11 in London.
Describing Lee as a master of his craft, Marc Samuelson, chair of BAFTA’s Film Committee, said Lee is a versatile and daring filmmaker who effortlessly moves between genres.
Lee’s films not only showcase his technical ability and deep understanding of the filmmaking process, but also his ability to infuse every story with characters that people can relate to, he said.
In response, Lee said England holds a special place in his heart as the location for his 1995 film “Sense and Sensibility,” based on the novel by British author Jane Austen. It is a tremendous honor to receive the fellowship and be counted among other brilliant filmmakers, he added.
Lee, 66, has had a long and illustrious career. He debuted as a director with the comedy drama “Pushing Hands” in 1992, which won best film at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival. His next movie, “The Wedding Banquet,” about an immigrant family from Taiwan in New York, earned best film at the 1993 Berlin International Film Festival.
He is perhaps most famous for winning best director at the Oscars in 2006 for love story “Brokeback Mountain” and again in 2013 for 3D epic “Life of Pi,” while his martial arts spectacular “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” earned best foreign language film in 2001. Thriller “Lust, Caution” later scooped seven prizes at the Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Oscars, in 2007. (SFC-E)
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