Taipei - Taiwan on Monday celebrated native-born son Ang Lee after he won best-directing honours at the Academy Awards for his film Brokeback Mountain with President Chen Shui-bian calling him 'the pride of Taiwan' and Lee's mother shedding happy tears with his fans.
Millions of Taiwan residents watched the Oscar ceremonies - held Sunday night in Los Angeles, Monday morning in Taiwan - as it was aired live on Taiwan television so they could see Lee become the first Asian director to win the statuette in the Oscars' 78-year history.
Afterward, his film about the love between two American cowboys, also earned him a laudatory message from Chen.
'I extend my warmest congratulations to Ang Lee,' Chen said. 'His achievement in filmmaking is an important contribution to world cuture-related industries and will stimulate Taiwan's film industry.'
'Ang Lee is the pride of Taiwan,' Chen added. 'I, along with all Taiwan people, are proud of him.'
Lee's mother wept with joy at a celebration with Lee's fans in Taipei that was arranged by the Taiwan distributor of Brokeback Mountain, which also won Oscars for best adapted screenplay and best musical score although it was beaten out for best film by Crash.
'I am very happy that he has won the Oscar, but I am more concerned about his health,' she told reporters and her son's fans. 'He works too hard at making films, so I hope he will take more rest.'
She might not get her wish, though, because the critically acclaimed director - five of whose films have now been nominated for Oscars - is likely to be busy picking up more honours in Taiwan.
The Government Information Office said it will present a cash reward to Lee. His alma mater, the National Arts School, plans to give him an honorary doctorate.
Lee, the son of a high school principal, embarked on his filmmaking career in 1973 when he enrolled in the Film and Drama Department of the National Arts School in Panchiao near Taipei.
At 23, he went to the United States to study filmmaking at New York University and has lived in the United States since then.
Now 51, Lee is the only Chinese director who is at ease with making both English-language films and Chinese-language films, thanks to his understanding of the two cultures.
Although Lee is now a US citizen, Taiwan's people consider him a Taiwanese and rejoiced in his winning the Oscar.
'This is not only an honour for Taiwan but also for Asia because Ang Lee is the first Asian director to win Oscar's best director award,' Lee You-ning, vice chairman of the Taiwan Directors' Guild, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
'Before him, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa won Oscar's lifetime achievement award but failed to win best director,' Lee You-ning said.
Ang Lee's films, including The Ice Storm, have regularly shown up on critics' lists of the best films of the year. Brokeback Mountain led the Oscar nominations this year with eight nods, but four Ang Lee's film have also received recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
His 1993 film, The Wedding Banquet, and 1994's Eat Drink Man Woman were both nominated for for best foreign film. Sense and Sensibility from 1995 was nominated for seven awards, including best picture, and won best adapted screenplay while 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received 10 nods, including for best director and best picture, and won four awards: best foreign film, best cinematography, best art direction and best music.
His work is also receiving praise from societal groups. Gay-rights activists in Taiwan said that Brokeback Mountain's three Oscars is an inspiration for the gay-rights movements in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, where homosexuality is still largely a taboo subject.
'It has given us more hope and confidence,' activist Chi Chia-wei told dpa.
In Taiwan, gays are petitioning the government to legalize marriage between same-sex couples. In China, where homosexuality was removed from the list of mental diseases in 2001, homosexuals can only hold meetings and seminars in the name of anti-AIDS groups.
Ang Lee first touched upon the subject of homosexuality in The Wedding Banquet, the story about a Taiwan man living in the United States, his gay American lover and the wedding he agrees to for his traditional family.
He has on many occasions called for acceptance of gay men and lesbians, but this married father of two has denied he is gay.
'One does not need to be a killer to shoot a film on crime, and one does not need to be a homosexual to shoot a film on homosexuals,' he said in an interview on Taiwan's cable TV channel TVBS in January.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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