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
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique