Ang Lee wins Japan Art Association film award

Tokyo, Sept. 11 (CNA) Taiwan-born, New York-based Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (李安) has been named the laureate for theater/film of the 2024 Praemium Imperiale, a global arts prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association.

Announcing this year's prize winners Tuesday, the association said Lee and four other laureates would each receive an award of 15 million yen (US$105,922).

Laureates will also get a testimonial letter and medal presented to them at an awards ceremony scheduled for Nov. 19 in Tokyo, the association added.

According to an anonymous source, Lee will travel from the United States to Japan to receive the award.

Lee won Best Director at the Academy Awards two times for "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005 and "Life of Pi" in 2012.

Other winners of the 2024 Praemium Imperiale include painter Sophie Calle of France, sculptor Doris Salcedo of Colombia, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, and Portuguese musician Maria João Pires.

The international advisors who recommend candidates for the awards are Lamberto Dini (former Prime Minister of Italy), Christopher Patten (the last British governor of Hong Kong), Klaus-Dieter Lehmann (former President of the Goethe-Institut in Germany), Jean-Pierre Raffarin (former Prime Minister of France), and Hillary Rodham Clinton (former Secretary of State of the U.S.).

The Japan Art Association was established in 1887 and is the oldest cultural foundation in Japan. It operates the Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo's Ueno Park. Additionally, it organizes and holds art exhibitions, among other activities.

In 1988, the association established the Praemium Imperiale to commemorate the organization's centennial.