Taiwan was a double winner at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday as director Ang Lee (李安) picked up his second Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for best picture for his erotic spy thriller Lust, Caution while Lin Jing-jie's (林靖傑) movie The Most Distant Course (最遙遠的距離) won the International Critics' Week Award.
Lee also won the Golden Lion in 2005 for Brokeback Mountain.
Lee's victory established a growing Asian dominance at the Venice festival. Directors from the continent have won six of the last 10 Golden Lion awards.
PHOTO: AP
The movie, called Se, Ji in Chinese, is a drama set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in the 1940s.
"Lust, Caution "has taken me to some very difficult places. I have invited you to come along with me and in the end to stay down there with me," Lee said.
Lin, meanwhile, returned to Taiwan yesterday along with lead actress Guey Lun-mei (
Greeted by fans and members of the media at the airport, Lin said he had been unable to receive the award in person because a lack of funds had caused him to return home, but he was still cheerful about winning.
"Of course I am very happy to win the award in Venice this time. I feel particularly excited about having been able to win the award on behalf of Taiwanese movies," Lin said.
"I am also moved that I could bring the leading actor and actress to Venice and increase the visibility of Taiwanese movies among international filmmakers," he said.
Lin, who is in debt after shooting the film, said he hoped the movie would be shown in theaters in Taiwan and win the hearts of local viewers.
Locally made films have failed to find large audiences in Taiwan, he said.
The Most Distant Course, which tells the story of three Taipei residents' escape to picturesque eastern Taiwan, was also one of the opening films in this year's Taipei Film Festival in June.
Guey and Chia said they were honored by the award, adding that they looked forward to future opportunities for cooperation.
Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (
Shieh praised Lee as a source of pride for Taiwan, saying that only in "a free, democratic environment for artistic creativity like Taiwan's can outstanding movie directors like Ang Lee be nurtured."
Shieh also offered his congratulations to Lin.
Both Lee and Lin are entitled to cash prizes to be awarded by the GIO, which has encouraged Taiwanese directors to produce films, GIO Councilor Chou Pei-chi (
Additional reporting by AFP and CNA
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