Filmmaker Ang Lee (李安) was honored as the first Taiwanese laureate of this year’s Praemium Imperiale, a global arts prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association, for promoting “the cultures and arts of the world” at an awards ceremony in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Lee, who has won two Oscars for best director, was honored alongside four others by the Japan Art Association, with each receiving a medal from Princess Hitachi at the ceremony.
“Japanese cinema has a long history of cultural influence, especially for Asian filmmakers and I’m no exception. As the first person from Taiwan to receive this award, I’m proud and deeply grateful,” Lee told a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
Photo: AFP
“Theater is like a temple for me and a movie is a ritual through which we hold a mirror up to our lives and hope to touch the truth,” he said. “I’d like to think that my career is a never-ending school, where I learn about cinema and about myself and about the world. There is no end to that learning.”
Lee was honored in the theater/film category in the 35th edition of the awards ceremony, which is widely considered Japan’s arts equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
He first won an Oscar when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) was named best foreign film in 2000. He then won best director awards for Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and Life of Pi in 2012.
This year’s laureates also include French conceptual artist Sophie Galle in the painting category, Colombian artist Doris Salcedo in sculpture, Voluntary Architects’ Network founder Shigeru Ban from Japan in architecture and Portugal-born pianist Maria Joao Pires in music.
During the ceremony on Tuesday, Princess Hitachi said the arts are crucial for bringing people together, enriching lives and consoling those caught up in conflicts.
Former Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida said the Japan Art Association aims to promote world peace through the arts, a wish of the late Prince Takamatsu, who served as the honorary patron of the association for 58 years until early 1987.
On the sidelines of Tuesday’s ceremony, Lee told reporters that Asian voices are important in the film industry when fewer people are going to cinemas, news Web site Japan Forward reported on Wednesday.
“We need to cherish our cultural heritage and speak up in cinema,” he said.
The Praemium Imperiale prize was established in 1988 when the Japan Art Association marked its centennial and in honor of the late Prince Takamatsu, who died the previous year.
Princess Hitachi was installed to succeed his role as the honorary patron.
Six artists “who transcend national and ethnic boundaries” with their “exceptional achievements,” including Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei (貝聿銘), French film director Marcel Carne, and painters Willem de Kooning and David Hockney received the first edition of the prize in 1989.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS