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Editorial: Oscar turns his back on Taiwan

Last week, Ang Lee's (李安) film Lust, Caution was prevented from competing as a Taiwanese film for the Best Foreign Film Award at next year's Oscars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The reason? Too many key members of the production were not Taiwanese, which raises the interesting question of how films are defined by their "nationality."

It seems increasingly difficult today to define or determine "nationality," not just for people but also for cultural and commercial products.

Over the decades, the global film industry has mixed and matched talent, expertise, capital and artistic and commercial inspiration from around the world, a trend that is arguably accelerating, as suggested by Hollywood remakes of a series of Asian blockbusters such as The Killer, Ringu, The Grudge and Infernal Affairs. Such borrowing across the East-West line is not unprecedented: The Magnificent Seven was a successful 1960 remake of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, for example.

Filmmakers in Asia have conversely borrowed talent and techniques from the West to enhance their filmmaking.

International participation and cooperation is here to stay. These are two of the most important factors in maintaining the quality of films, including in Hollywood, and replenishing pools of talent.

So, disqualifying a film from an award ceremony based on a percentage of less senior foreign crew members seems a little outdated -- if not indefensible. Intriguingly, the rules do not say what the percentages are.

Rule Fourteen for next year's Academy Awards states simply that: "The submitting country must certify that creative talent of that country exercised artistic control of the film," and that "The Academy will make the final determination in all questions of eligibility."

By refusing Lust, Caution a Taiwanese berth, the Academy is claiming that the Taiwanese director, writer and other Taiwanese members of the production crew -- and some of the film's financial backers -- did not exercise "artistic control" over the film. This might have been a more credible statement if the Academy had determined who did exercise this control and to which country these alleged people belonged.

But they did not, creating a situation in which any number of foreign films are ineligible for the Oscars because they are excessively multicultural and insufficiently "national."

Because there are no rules on this matter, we are left with the possibility of political or other interference with the nomination process, a problem that is by no means unique to this part of the Academy's duties.

Still, the fuss over this matter is of little import. Lee has enough Oscars to prove to people who take the Academy Awards seriously that he is a top filmmaker. And there is every likelihood that the film might not have survived the cut to the final five nominees, given that the US release of Lust, Caution has met with a substantial number of poor reviews.

If the Taiwanese government is going to take anything away from this minor fracas, it is this: There are Taiwanese filmmakers to back for an Oscar gong other than Ang Lee, a director of vision and brilliance who needs no further recognition.
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