Taiwanese-born filmmaker Ang Lee (
Lee, 51, has made a career of depicting the struggles of outsiders, and his latest film explores the forbidden love between two cowboys.
Best known for his 2000 martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won four Oscars, Lee reshaped Hollywood filmmaking with his risky portrayal of gay sexuality in a mainstream movie.
PHOTO: AP
Accepting his award, Lee thanked the fictional characters of his film, based on a short story by Annie Proulx.
"Their names are Ennis and Jack, and they taught all of us who made Brokeback Mountain so much about not just the gay men and women whose love is denied by society but, just as important, the greatness of love itself," he said.
Brokeback Mountain missed out on the best picture Oscar, which went to racial drama Crash.
Modest and mild-mannered, Lee offered his congratulations to the cast and crew of Crash whose Oscar win was announced while he spoke to reporters backstage.
The director, who has lived in the US since 1978, also thanked his father, who encouraged him to accept the risky project after his big-budget feature Hulk flopped, but who subsequently died.
"I just did this movie after my father passed away. More than any other, I made this for him," Lee said.
He also thanked his wife and two children, telling them: "On Brokeback, I felt you with me every day."
Lee finished his acceptance speech by tapping into his Asian roots, thanking his "connections" in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
Lee's films range from intimate dramas about dysfunctional families like The Ice Storm to period English pieces like Sense and Sensibility, martial arts (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and comic book adaptations such as Hulk.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the awards, passed over Lee for best director five years ago when he was nominated and expected to win for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Lee has said he never expected Brokeback to meet the strong reception it has.
"I thought it was a small work of love," he said in January. "I never thought it would play like this."
On Sunday he said that the movie had renewed his appetite for filmmaking.
"It certainly changed me. Before I got into this movie I was very tired ... I almost wanted to retire, I just felt I had had it. This movie taught me how to look at myself, how to manage myself and enjoy making them," he said.
"I think we sensed that there is some calling, some need to do some movies ... and then somehow the society catches up, it's meant to happen. I don't think we planned it, we spoke to our heart. The audience is very hungry for respect ... for complexity, for maturity," he said.
The film has earned US$79 million at US and Canadian box offices -- a mighty sum for a low-budget film meant to play mainly in arthouse cinemas.
Lee's effort with Brokeback earned him many accolades this award season including the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globe trophy and the best director award from the Directors Guild of America.
also see stories:
Taiwanese cheer Lee's win, but some question subject
Family and friends praise Ang Lee's quiet dedication
'Crash' director 'shocked, shocked'
Oscar at a glance
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
RSS