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SCMP

This article was first published on March 7, 2006.
By Vivienne Chow
Oscars win for dir­ector Ang Lee is bit­tersweet
A mourn­ful story of cow­boys in love finally clinched Ang Lee the Oscar he missed out on six years ago, but the award left him dis­ap­poin­ted and “a bit sur­prised” at not win­ning the best pic­ture award.
“It was a loss and a gain,” Lee said after being named best dir­ector for Broke­back Moun­tain. “I was happy about win­ning but not being able to win the best pic­ture award was a bit sur­pris­ing. As a film’s leader I hoped for an award for every­one involved in the film.
“The whole team is here. At most of the awards, we won both best film and dir­ect­ing. We are used to that, so this is sur­pris­ing. We hope we’ll feel bet­ter tomor­row.”
Nev­er­the­less, Lee was glad to be the first Chinese to win an Oscar for best dir­ector.

“Being the first Asian film­maker to get this main­stream award, not a crit­ics’ award, means a lot for the industry,” he said.
The award gave Lee the recog­ni­tion that evaded him in 2001, when the mar­tial arts epic Crouch­ing Tiger, Hid­den Dragon man­aged only the Oscar for best for­eign film, des­pite scoop­ing best dir­ector titles at other awards.
“I didn’t leave Taiwan until I was 23,” Lee said, speak­ing to Hong Kong journ­al­ists after the awards.
“I grew up with Chinese films and Hong Kong films. They are my cul­tural roots. I’m very proud of them. I’m delighted to be the rep­res­ent­at­ive of the industry, proud to be part of that. I will come back to make a Chinese-lan­guage film without a doubt.”

Born in 1954 in Taiwan, Lee gradu­ated from the National Taiwan Col­lege of Arts and stud­ied theatre dir­ect­ing and film pro­duc­tion in the United States.
He made his dir­ect­ing debut in 1992 with Push­ing Hands. The fol­low­ing year, his next film, The Wed­ding Ban­quet, won a Golden Bear at the Ber­lin Inter­na­tional Film Fest­ival.
His 1994 Eat Drink Man Woman also won wide acclaim.
In 1995, Lee ven­tured into the Hol­ly­wood main­stream, with a screen adapt­a­tion of Jane Aus­ten’s clas­sic Sense and Sens­ib­il­ity that won his second Golden Bear.
But it was Crouch­ing Tiger, Hid­den Dragon that secured his top pos­i­tion in Hol­ly­wood.
Broke­back Moun­tain has won awards world­wide since it premiered at last Septem­ber’s Venice Film Fest­ival, win­ning the top award, the Golden Lion. The film also won a Golden Globe for best pic­ture (drama) and best dir­ector.
Accept­ing his Oscar, Lee ded­ic­ated the award to his father, who died before he began shoot­ing Broke­back Moun­tain.
“This industry, in his eyes, isn’t very stable,” he said. “But he knew that I was doing something I’m pas­sion­ate about.” Lee said he now wanted some rest.
He was work­ing on some scripts but hadn’t made up his mind on his next effort.
Taiwan celebrates with Ang Lee
By Lawrence Chung
Cham­pagne corks popped and fire­crack­ers were lit yes­ter­day (March 6, 2006) in Taiwan as Ang Lee became the first Asian to win the best dir­ect­ing hon­our at the Academy Awards.
“Yeah, he got it, he got it,” shouted the dir­ector’s younger brother, Lee Kang, who runs a TV pro­duc­tion house in Taipei.
Smil­ing from ear to ear in his packed office, Lee Kang uncorked the bub­bly to cel­eb­rate his brother’s biggest film­mak­ing suc­cesses with their 81-year-old mother, Yang Si-chuang.

Lee Kang was a little dis­ap­poin­ted that Broke­back Moun­tain failed to take the best film hon­our, but felt grat­i­fied with the best dir­ector award. “We shouldn’t be too harsh towards the Amer­ic­ans. After all, it is good for the [Academy of Motion Pic­ture Arts and Sci­ences] to be able to accept dif­fer­ent [movie] sub­jects and dif­fer­ent voices.” he said. “It is one of the biggest achieve­ments for Ang Lee to get the [best dir­ector] Oscar.”
Fight­ing back tears, Ms Yang said she felt sorry that she could not share the moment with her late hus­band, who died dur­ing the film­ing of Broke­back Moun­tain.
Taiwanese Pres­id­ent Chen Shui-bian and Vice-Pres­id­ent Annette Lu Hsiu-lien sent Ang Lee sep­ar­ate con­grat­u­lat­ory mes­sages, say­ing they were proud to have him elev­ate the island’s status.
Fire­crack­ers were lit at Ang Lee’s south­ern hometown of Tainan. Stu­dents at Tainan First High School, from which the dir­ector gradu­ated, hal­ted their stud­ies to watch the Oscars tele­cast.
“Although he was not good at maths, he showed his fond­ness of movies when he was a high school stu­dent,” said his former teacher, Huang Chung-chia.
Else­where in China, main­land movie buffs who had seen Broke­back Moun­tain on pir­ated DVD claimed the dir­ector as their own, des­pite cri­ti­cism of some of his other films, such as Crouch­ing Tiger, Hid­den Dragon. “We take pride in him. It proves Chinese don’t neces­sar­ily have to offer stor­ies of tra­di­tions or the poor coun­tryside to sat­isfy the for­eign­ers’ curi­os­ity. We can com­pete on the same level,” said account­ant Stephanie Shi. But oth­ers said they felt embar­rassed by the gay love story, high­light­ing con­ser­vat­ive views towards homo­sexu­al­ity.
Additional reporting by Lillian Yang


Ang Lee becomes first Chinese person to win best director Oscar in 2006 – SCMP archive

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From our archives

Ang Lee holds his Oscar for achievement in directing. He is the first Asian winner of the award. Photo: EPA

People watch on a large TV screen outside Hong Kong’s Times Square on March 6, 2006, as director Ang Lee accepts the Oscar for best director. Photo: SCMP

Ang Lee, left, working with actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of Brokeback Mountain. Photo: AP

Caption: Ang Lee’s brother and mother celebrate his latest triumph. Photo: AP

Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love opens in Hong Kong in 2000 – from the SCMP archive

Maggie Cheung Man-yuk and Tony Leung Chiu-wai in the film “In The Mood For Love”. Photo: Jet Tone Production

Page 5 of the South China Morning Post on September 29, 2000. Photo: SCMP

Maggie Cheung Man-yuk in a still from In the Mood for Love 25th Anniversary Special Edition: Photo: Jet Tone Production

Wong Kar-wai poses during the photocall of his film “In the Mood for Love” at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival, on May 20, 2000. Photo: AFP

Drama in Hong Kong’s first international marathon in 1969 – from the SCMP archive

Runners taking part in the Tin Tin international marathon at Yuen Long Stadium in the New Territories on December 14, 1969. Photo: SCMP


A clipping from the South China Morning Post on December 15, 1969 issue. Photo: SCMP

Korea’s Kim Cha Kwan (left), winner of the international marathon receiving the trophy from K.S. Wai at a dinner reception on December 15, 1969. Photo: SCMP

South Korea’s Kim Cha Hwan made his attack about seven miles from the end of the marathon and swung into the lead with John Farrington and Hernek Singh hanging on doggedly. Photo: SCMP

Princess Diana admits adultery in blow to monarchy in 1995 – from the SCMP archive

Princess Diana and Prince Charles look in different directions during a service held to commemorate the 59 British soldiers killed in action during the Korean War. Photo: Reuters

Prince Charles and Princess Diana kissing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, July 29, 1981. They are surrounded by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Edward and the Queen Mother. Photo: Getty Images

Princess Diana arriving at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in June 1994. Photo: Getty Images

(From left to right) Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Lady Gabriella Windsor. Prince Charles and Princess Diana stand behind them during the Trooping the Colour on June 13, 1992. Photo: Getty Images

King Charles (left) and Queen Camilla in April 2023. Photo: Getty

Culture

Twenty years ago on March 5, 2006, Lee won the Academy Award for best director for the film Brokeback Mountain


Twenty years ago on March 5, 2006, Lee won the Academy Award for best director for the film Brokeback Mountain.


On This Day | Ang Lee becomes first Chinese person to win best director Oscar in 2006 – SCMP archive

Twenty years ago on March 5, 2006, Lee won the Academy Award for best director for the film Brokeback Mountain

Oscars win for director Ang Lee is bittersweet

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}On This Day | Ang Lee becomes first Chinese person to win best director Oscar in 2006 – SCMP archive

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Twenty years ago on March 5, 2006, Lee won the Academy Award for best director for the film Brokeback Mountain

Oscars win for dir­ector Ang Lee is bit­tersweet

On This Day | Ang Lee becomes first Chinese person to win best director Oscar in 2006 – SCMP archive

Twenty years ago on March 5, 2006, Lee won the Academy Award for best director for the film Brokeback Mountain

Oscars win for director Ang Lee is bittersweet