Ang Lee (李安) yesterday became the first Taiwanese director to be honored with a Praemium Imperiale award and is to attend the awards ceremony in late November, the event organizers said.
The Praemium Imperiale, inaugurated in 1988, is an international art prize. Since 1989, the Japanese imperial family has presented the awards on behalf of the Japan Art Association.
A panel of internationally renowned individuals, including former Italian prime minister Lamberto Dini, University of Oxford chancellor Chris Patten, Goethe-Institut president Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, made the nominations, which the association reviewed and picked final candidates.
Photo: Hsu Shih-yin, Taipei Times
In addition to Lee, who won the prize in the film sector, other winners include Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, French installation artist Sophie Calle, Colombian visual artist and sculptor Doris Salcedo, and Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires.
Ban was nominated for his contributions to the creativity and innovativeness of architecture by using paper as material to build shelters and temporary residences for natural disaster victims
Lee enjoys significant status in Japan and has been introduced by the Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) as the director who won an Oscar for best director twice — for Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi.
Prince Hitachi, the association’s honorary patron, is to preside over the awards ceremony, which is to be held in Tokyo on Nov. 19.
The Japanese emperor and queen attend the event every year in principle; if they cannot attend in person, they usually arrange a time to meet the awardees.
Representative to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) has also been invited by the association to attend the ceremony.
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