A Life in Pictures: Ang Lee

Ang Lee, acclaimed Taiwanese director of films including Brokeback Mountain, has shared: “I always wanted to find something I believed in.”

In his career Lee has been nominated for nine BAFTAs. Winning four for acclaimed films like Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain.

Speaking at a packed Life in Pictures event he told interviewer Francine Stock about his delight when films move audiences. “It’s a great satisfaction, I have to confess,” he said.

“When we make a movie and people think it has touched them but they don’t know why – I think that’s what cinema should do.”

He also described how he’s often completely taken over by the film he’s working on. Describing how he feels “somewhat possessed” by it.

“I don’t feel like I’m directing the film,” he said, “I feel like the movie is directing me.”

Lee is recognised for his stunning and ambitious visual style, and the emotional authenticity of his films. Over the last two decades these trademarks have established him as one of the most accomplished directors in Chinese and English-language cinema.

Born in Taiwan, Lee moved to the United States at 24. He studied at New York University where he was a classmate of Spike Lee and won the University’s Wasserman Award for Outstanding Direction for his Master’s film, Fine Line.

After years of struggle, he finally got his big break. This was when he entered two scripts into a screenplay contest in Taiwan – winning first and second prize. Recognition that then allowed him to make three films exploring family conflicts: Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet and the BAFTA-nominated Eat Drink Man Woman.

Lee then scored mainstream success in 1995 directing Emma Thompson’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. The popular period drama scored 12 BAFTA nominations, eventually winning three, including Best Film.

Then, after two more hit English-language features, The Ice Storm and Ride with the Devil, he returned to Chinese cinema with lavish martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

In the interview Lee spoke about his entire career. Starting with convincing his father his future lay in film and the difficult years before his first feature was funded. He also discussed his latest project, an adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling book Life of Pi.

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