Tainan City, the hometown of Oscar winner Ang Lee (李安), declared April 28 "Ang Lee Day" as the director returned to the southern city to accept the honor.
Lee, who now resides in the US, was back for the first time since the movie won four Academy Awards last month.
He was the first Asian to pick up Hollywood's prestigious best director award.
PHOTO: WU HSIN-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
Flanked by his Oscar statue, Lee handed an autographed poster of his celebrated gay romance Brokeback Mountain to Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (
Both men donned cowboy hats in honor of the occasion.
Hsu gave Lee a ceramic sculpture of a dragon and a horse, both of which symbolize speed in local art and culture.
"I am proud to be a Tainanese," Lee said. "Now it seems as if the Tainanese are also proud of me, and that gives me a special sense of accomplishment."
To celebrate Lee's visit, Chinzi Cinema yesterday held a free public screening of Brokeback Mountain. The city government also aired another Oscar-winning film by Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Lee reportedly also accepted an invitation from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to give a speech in Taipei next Thursday about his journey from childhood in Tainan to an internationally acclaimed director.
Lee recently was voted as the top figure in the arts and entertainment category of Time Magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential icons, with South Korean pop singer Rain placing second, Clint Eastwood third and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi (
Some local media reports speculated however that the voting results may have been distorted by overzealous Taiwanese web surfers who used software to inflate Lee's number.
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