BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OVER 60 individuals from all walks of life yesterday afternoon (Apr. 6) attended an organised 3D movie called ‘Life of Pi’; a film directed by the 2013 Oscar winner for Best Director, Ang Lee, a Taiwanese-born American film director, screenwriter and producer.
The movie, shown at the Caribbean Cinemas at Buckley Site, was hosted by the Taiwan Embassy in collaboration with the Department of Culture.
Among the attendees were Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas; Resident Taiwan Ambassador, Miguel Tsao; Minister of Culture Marcella Liburd; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Sharon Rattan; employees of the Taiwan Embassy and Culture Department as well as former Parliamentarian Cedric Liburd and his wife Veronica; members of the business community and children.
According to Biography.com, Ang Lee attended the National Taiwan College of Arts and then travelled to the United States, where he studied at the University of Illinois and NYU. It is said that Lee's directorial debut was Pushing Hands in 1992 and films that followed include Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Reportedly, in 2006, Lee became the first Asian to win an Academy Award for Best Director, for the film Brokeback Mountain.
SKNVibes spoke with a few officials after the movie last evening and PM Douglas expressed his appreciation as to why Ang Lee has been honoured at the Oscars.
“There's no question about the movie being a great movie and I am now able to appreciate why the film director actually has been recognised for the Oscars over the years.”
He opined that the event, to a large extent, enriches the relationship between St. Kitts and Nevis and the Republic of China on Taiwan.
“It brings to the fore the richness of the Taiwanese culture and also the recognition that again Taiwan continues to command in the international community. They have to a large extent led for a while in certain parts of the world in terms of their successful economic development programmes and policies through technology. And even now as they excel at this level in a totally different sphere is really tremendous, encouraging and congratulatory.”
Ambassador Tsao, upon highlighting the accomplishments of Ang Lee, said that the film was shown in order to share “the happiness of the world with all the Kittitians and Nevisians...that's the reason why we are here”.
Rattan praised Ambassador Tsao for often putting together cultural exchange events.
“The Taiwanese Ambassador always finds the opportunity for cultural exchanges and he felt that this was an opportunity for us to celebrate the accomplishment of the director of the movie 'Life of Pi'. And not only because he is Taiwanese, but because of the versatility of his skills and, secondly, because of the international flavour used in the movie. It was not a pure American movie but it was through the lens of a Taiwanese and a story about faith, and we were very happy to collaborate with the Ambassador on this and bring out a cross section of our community to come to view this movie.
“Specifically for us so in the Department of Culture, we invited persons in the video and film industry because, at the same time, the movie is known for the animation. It also won a prize for the animation and 3D component”, Rattan informed.
