Ang Lee receives DGA Lifetime Achievement Award

Los Angeles, Feb. 9 (CNA) Acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee (李安), who has won two Oscars and other awards over the past few years, received the Directors Guild of America's (DGA) 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Saturday.

"Born and raised in Taiwan it feels like a realization of the American dream to be here on this stage. I am a dreamer at my core. My dreams are not just an individual experience, there is a link through the collective consciousness and unconsciousness," Lee said at the ceremony after receiving his award from Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊).

When Lee was about to read his acceptance speech, he put on his reading glasses and joked that this means it's time for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lee began his speech saying, "I have received many awards in my career, but this one is the most special to me because it comes from my beloved peers."

"This award, which is given to a Director in recognition of distinguished achievement in feature film direction, is the Guild's highest honor and the recipient is selected by the present and past presidents of the Guild," the organization, which considers the award its highest honor, notes on its Web site.

Looking back on his career as a film director, Lee said he has experienced different film-making genres throughout his career, from low budget to high budget, low tech to high tech, from domestic origin to different languages. He said his films have made it onto the top 10 best of the year list but also onto the worst of the year list once. "I've received the DGA award without the Oscar and vice versa."

Born in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan in 1954, Lee has won two Academy Awards for best director -- for "Brokeback Mountain" and "Life of Pi" -- and is also a two-time Golden Globe Best Director winner for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback Mountain."

Lee joined the DGA in 1996. The Guild awarded him a DGA Honor for his contributions to American culture through his support of the nation's film and television industry in 2018. He won the DGA Award in the Feature Film category twice, once in 2000 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and again in 2005 for Brokeback Mountain, which also won an Academy Award for Best Director, according to the organization's Web site.

In the Guild's 88-year history, only 36 directors have been recognized with this honor.