Ang Lee will be the 2021 recipient of the BAFTA Fellowship during the Film Awards ceremony on April 11th. The Taiwanese filmmaker has previously won four BAFTAs, with two Best Directors for Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and two Best Films for Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. 

Included in his numerous accolades, are Lee’s three Oscar nominations and two wins. He won for Best Director twice for Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger.  

Past recipients of the prestigious Fellowship award include: Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor and Stanley Kubrick. Last year’s honorary winner was producer Kathleen Kennedy for her work on films such as, E.T., The Color Purple, The Sixth Sense, and Lincoln.

BAFTA Film Chairman Marc Samuelson had this to say about Lee: “His films have been truly ground-breaking both in terms of their technical expertise and for the subject matters he tackles. His pioneering work in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi and so many other titles not only showcase his technical ability and deep understanding of the filmmaking process, but also his ability to infuse every story – no matter how epic or simple – with humanizing characters we can all relate to…”

Ang Lee has responded to honor, “England has been particularly good to me in my career, especially with Sense and Sensibility, which was like a second film school for me. It’s a tremendous honour to receive the BAFTA Academy Fellowship and be counted among such brilliant filmmakers.”

The 74th annual BAFTAs will take place over the course of two nights, April 10th and 11th. Ang Lee will be presented with his Fellowship award virtually on the second night on BBC 1.