Retrospective of Oscar winner Ang Lee's films in Delhi, Pune, Kolkata

A still from the film "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon".

A retrospective of Oscar award winner Taiwanese director Ang Lee's films will be held at the Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi for three days from tomorrow after which the festival will travel to Pune and Kolkata.

The movies that will be showcased at the festival are \: Fine Line (1984), Pushing Hands (1992), The Wedding Banquet (1993), Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000).

The festival, which traces Ang Lee's journey from his early days in college, has been organised by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre, New Delhi, in collaboration with Directorate of Film Festivals.

Out of the five films being screened, four have been produced by famous international producer Hus Li-Kong, who will be the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony in Delhi. Mr. Ang Lee attributes his success to him and feels that without Mr. Hsu, he would not have been where he is today.

Mr. Lee will be sending a DVD with his message for Indian viewers which will be screened at the inauguration, the organisers said.

Ang Lee is one of seven directors to win the Oscar, the Golden Globe, Director's Guild and BAFTA for the same movie: Brokeback Mountain (2005). All his films have been very well received by audiences not only in Taiwan but all over the world because of the striking diversity, as well as his recurring themes of alienation, marginalization, and repression.

Many of Lee's films, particularly his early Chinese trilogy, have focused on the interactions between modernity and tradition. The movement from family drama, period drama, the Western, the martial arts epic and the comic strip has all been given the Lee treatment. His settings too are as diverse as modern Taipei, Victorian England, Civil War America and Qing-dynasty China.

Some of his films have had a light-hearted comic tone which marks a break from tragic historical realism. In short, Lee is the perfect living example of globalization and its effect on the film

Ambassador Wenchyi Ong said "India is a land of film lovers and Taiwan’s film industry is already well known in the international arena for having a large number of talented and creative individuals."

He noted that Taiwanese films "I Can’t Live Without You" and "Wall" won the Golden Peacock Award at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in 2009 and 2007.

He hoped that, through the retrospective, Indians would be able to connect to one of Taiwan's most loved directors and his heart warming films.

NNN