Ang Lee and Lee Kang to help local film industry

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (李安) wants to give back to his homeland's movie industry.

Lee and his younger brother and fellow filmmaker, Lee Kang (李崗), have launched a program to cultivate Taiwanese directors by funding them and providing help in marketing, Lee Kang told reporters yesterday in an interview by phone.

STRUGGLING

Lee Kang said that Taiwan's movie industry was struggling, partially because the country's directors were overworked.

"Nowadays directors have to do everything -- raising money, writing the script, securing government grants, shooting, producing and marketing," he said.

He said the Lee brothers' program hoped to free up filmmakers to focus on directing.

"We'll produce for the directors ... so they focus on being directors. We'll plan their marketing for them," he said.

Lee Kang said several directors and scripts had been selected already, but he declined to identify them or say how much the Lee brothers had raised for the plan.

The younger Lee also said he wanted to train directors in making commercial movies and counter Taiwan's preference for art-house cinema.

CONSULTANT

Lee Kang said that Ang Lee would serve as an artistic consultant to chosen directors by providing help in developing their film manuscripts.

Ang Lee won Oscar best director last year for the romance Brokeback Mountain.

His other credits include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Hulk and The Ice Storm.

He is currently filming the Chinese-language spy thriller Lust, Caution.