Director Ang Lee to be awarded 2021 Bafta Fellowship, only 3rd Asian to win it

Ang Lee will be honoured with the Fellowship at the EE Bafta Film Awards 2021 on April 11. Photo: AFP

Taiwanese film director Ang Lee will receive a Bafta Fellowship at the Bafta Film Awards ceremony on April 11, becoming the third Asian to win the award, reported Central News Agency, quoting the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) announcement on Tuesday (April 6).

"Lee is one of the world's most pioneering and revered contemporary filmmakers whose groundbreaking films are highly acclaimed spanning multiple genres throughout his producing, writing and directing career," said Bafta on its official website.

Lee has won several Bafta awards for his movies Sense And Sensibility; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Brokeback Mountain.

He also won Best Director at the Oscars for Brokeback Mountain and Life Of Pi.

Lee rose to prominence in the 1990s with his Taiwanese Father Knows Best comedy trilogy consisting of Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman.

The Wedding Banquet won the Golden Bear at the 1993 Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2000, Lee produced and directed the martial arts action-adventure Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Lee's films "have been truly groundbreaking both in terms of their technical expertise and for the subject matters he tackles," said Marc Samuelson, chair of Bafta's Film Committee.

"His pioneering work... not only showcases his technical ability and deep understanding of the film making process, but also his ability to infuse every story – no matter how epic or simple – with humanising characters we can all relate to on an emotional level," Samuelson said.

CNA also reported that after learning of the award, Lee said: "It's a tremendous honour to receive the Bafta Academy Fellowship and be counted among such brilliant filmmakers."

The Fellowships is the highest accolade bestowed by Bafta upon an individual and previous recipients for their contribution to film include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, and Steven Spielberg.

The two previous Asian award winners were Shigeru Miyamoto, a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, in 2010, and Hideo Kojima, a Japanese video game designer and producer best known for Death Stranding and the Metal Gear series, in 2020. – Bernama