Internationally-renowned director Ang Lee and screenwriter James Schamus will give a free, public talk at Wellesley College on Saturday, October 26. The talk gets underway at 10:30 a.m. in Diana Chapman Walsh Alumnae Hall Auditorium. Seating opens at 10:00 a.m. and is available on a first-come-first-served basis.

“Ang Lee is one of the most important figures in Chinese cinema—and probably the most famous figure from Chinese cinema in the entire world,” said Mingwei Song, assistant professor of Chinese at Wellesley. Song’s work specializes in modern Chinese literature, film studies, and youth culture. He has taught Lee’s films in various classes.  

Lee has won the Academy Award for Best Direction for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life of Pi (2012) and the Award for Best Foreign Language Film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) in addition to numerous prestigious prizes from European and Asian film festivals. Schamus is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, producer, and film executive, and a widely published film historian and theorist. His long collaboration as writer and producer for Ang Lee has resulted in 11 films, including Brokeback Mountain; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Ice Storm; The Wedding Banquet; The Hulk; Taking Woodstock and Lust, Caution.

As moderator, Song intends to ask questions of the pair exploring their collaboration and career together as well as film themes before turning the questions over to the audience. One theme that Song is excited to explore starts with the question, “Who is the tiger?” referencing the representation of the tiger in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi.

The talk will be live-streamed for those not able to make it to campus.

This event is co-presented by Wellesley's Susan and Donald Newhouse Center for the Humanities, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Cinema and Media Studies Program. It is a major highlight in a series of other events celebrating Chinese cinema, including academic talks on related topics. For more information on upcoming events, including events planned for Spring 2014, read the event press release.