Friday, October 5, 7:00 pm
Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center
Reception to follow at the Outdoor Art Club

TRIBUTE AND RECEPTION $60
TRIBUTE ONLY $25
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A uniquely sensitive and versatile filmmaker, Ang Lee is a one-man antidote to the worldwide cadre of directors enamored of exposing humanity’s heart of darkness. Lee’s grail is the heart of light. In no way sentimental or Pollyannaish, his is a cinema of longing for freedom, for love, for acceptance. From his first features, Pushing Hands (MVFF 1992), The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman, the Taiwanese director has evinced a rare compassion for characters chafed and choked by traditions and norms. With the exquisitely crafted Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm (MVFF 1997), Lee achieved an artistry to match his empathy. He moved on to bigger canvases, taking an introspective approach to the comic- book movie in The Hulk and giving the martial-arts epic a fresh feminist slant in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. With Brokeback Mountain, he distilled the fragility of forbidden fraternity into a sublime composition. Now, instead of parlaying his best director Oscar into a big-budget blockbuster, he gives us Lust, Caution, a suspenseful tale of longing set in Shanghai during World War II. As unpredictable and as compelling as any filmmaker working today, Ang Lee is a true original.

Please join us for the Tribute program of clips and conversation with Ang Lee and the presentation of the MVFF Award*. After the program, the evening will continue with a dinner reception in the director’s honor at the Outdoor Art Club in Mill Valley. Dine on authentic Italian cuisine from popular Mill Valley restaurant Piazza D’Angelo, and enjoy fine wines from Sonoma County’s Verité Winery.

*Click here for more information about our Mill Valley Film Festival Award.

Sponsored By:
Christopher B. and Jeannie Meg Smith