Taiwan Film Festival Features Ang Lee Films

As part of this year’s Multicultural Festival, The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office is presenting two films by world-famous director, Ang Lee, at the Tuggerarong Arts Centre.

Ang Lee is best known for the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain, starring Australian, Heath Ledger(2005). Other outstanding works include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and his adaptation of the comic book classic, The Hulk.

For the past three years, The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office and The Tuggerarong Arts Centre have worked together to bring the best of Taiwanese film to Canberra. This year, they have chosen two of Ang Lee’s early works—The Wedding Banque t(1993)and--Pushing Hands (1992). Highly entertaining, these comedy dramas give a glimpse of Ang Lee’s Taiwanese heritage, and form part of the Taiwanese New Wave film genre. Ang Lee graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975, and has made many successful Chinese language films, in addition to his more well-known works.

While set in the United States, both The Wedding Banquet and Pushing Hands give us a unique insight into an older, more traditional Taiwan by focusing on the cultural clash between parents and their grown-up children.

In The Wedding Banquet, Wai-Tung attempts to conceal his long-term, gay relationship from his parents, who constantly pressure him to marry. The solution—a ‘green card’ marriage to a Chinese girl--has unexpected results when his parents arrive to plan the wedding banquet of the title.

Pushing Hands features Mr. Chu, a retired Tai Chi Master who decides to move in with his son, Alex, American daughter-in-law, Martha and grandson, Jeremy. The family is thrown into chaos when their world is turned upside down by his arrival.

The Wedding Banquet and Pushing Hands screen at Tuggerarong Arts Centre at 7:30 pm on Friday 13 February and Sat 14 February respectively.