ANG LEE, Taiwanese-born director born; Lee decided to take on a small-budget, low-profile independent film based on Annie Proulx’s Pulitzer Prize-finalist short story originally published in The New Yorker, Brokeback Mountain. In a 2005 article by Robert K. Elder, Lee was quoted as saying, “What do I know about Gay ranch hands in Wyoming?” In spite of the director’s removal from the subject at hand Brokeback Mountain showcased Lee’s skills in probing depths of the human heart.

Ang Lee’s experience with gay love stories didn’t start with Brokeback, however. The Wedding Banquet is a 1993 romantic comedy film directed by Lee and starring Winston Chao, May Chin, Gua Ah-leh, Sihung Lung, and Mitchell Lichtenstein. The screenplay concerns a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet and he has to hide the truth of his gay partner.

The Wedding Banquet was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Academy Awards, and was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It won the Golden Space Needle of the Seattle International Film Festival and the Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.

Brokeback Mountain, the 2005 movie about the forbidden love between two Wyoming cowboys immediately caught public attention and initiated intense debates. The film was critically acclaimed at major international film festivals and won Lee numerous Best Director and Best Film awards worldwide. In addition, “Brokeback” became a cultural phenomenon and a box office hit. “Brokeback” was nominated for a leading eight Oscars and was the front-runner for Best Picture heading into the Oscars ceremony, but lost out to Crash, a story about race relations in Los Angeles, in a controversial upset.

There was speculation that the film’s depiction of homosexuality might have been the reason for that upset, while others speculate that Crash was simply a better movie. There is little doubt that homophobia was a major factor in the outcome. Ernest Borgnine went public for his disdain for the film, saying that “If John Wayne were alive, he would be spinning in his grave.” Borgnine didn’t explain what or why a living John Wayne was doing in his grave, but thank you for playing Ernie.  Lee said he was disappointed that his film did not win Best Picture, but was honored to win Best Director, becoming the first Asian to ever win the award.