Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安) expressed his appreciation to the nation’s film fans for their support for his 3D box office hit Life of Pi (少年PI的奇幻漂流) on his return to Taiwan yesterday.
“I’m very thankful to audiences in Taiwan,” Lee said at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
However he urged movie fans to not forget the excellent cast of the film.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Lee is scheduled to meet the press and fans at Hsin-Hsin Showtime Cinema in Taipei today. The director is in Taiwan after wrapping up a visit to Japan to promote the film, which was honored for Best Original Score at the 70th Golden Globe Awards on Sunday
The movie has received 11 nominations, including for Best Director and Best Picture, for the 85th Academy Awards to be presented on Feb. 24. The only film to garner more nominations was Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln with 12.
Asked about the film’s Academy Award prospects during a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday, Lee said he was not afraid of the competition with Lincoln and did not feel any pressure.
“What worries me more is that if I win, I will have to give a speech on stage,” he joked.
Lee said it was a great honor for Life of Pi to receive 11 nominations, whether it wins the awards or not. However, he said it was “a pity” that the movie did not receive any nominations in the acting categories, despite fine performances by its cast.
Adapted from Canadian novelist Yann Martel’s 2002 Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, Life of Pi explores faith through the story of a shipwrecked Indian boy adrift on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.
The movie has emerged as the highest grossing film of Lee’s career, raking in more than US$450 million at box offices worldwide as of Jan. 11.
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Traffic controls are to be in place in Taipei starting tonight, police said, as rallies supporting recall efforts targeting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers as well as a rally organized by the KMT opposing the recall campaigns are to take place tomorrow. Traffic controls are to be in place on City Hall Road starting from 10pm tonight and on Jinan Road Section 1 starting from 8am tomorrow, police said. Recall campaign groups in Taipei and New Taipei advocating for the recall of KMT legislators, along with the Safeguard Taiwan, Anti-Communist Alliance (反共護台聯盟), have previously announced plans for motorcycle parades and public
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‘ON THE RIGHT TRACK’: US analysts praised the ‘less scripted’ drills as strengthening defenses and resilience, as confusion and spontaneity are common in actual warfare This month’s annual Han Kuang military exercises are to feature six types of “gray zone” tactics used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the aim of weakening their effectiveness, Chief of the General Staff Admiral Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹) told the military yesterday. The 41st Han Kuang drills, scheduled from Wednesday next week through July 18, would simulate a Chinese blockade and invasion, with President William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday saying that Taiwan is already in a “war without gun smoke.” In a speech broadcast to officers and soldiers yesterday, Mei said that the six types of harassment are: legal warfare,
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