Oscar-winning director Ang Lee's new spy thriller
Lust,
Caution, will not compete for next year's best foreign movie
Oscar because of technical reasons.
Ang Lee's new movie was not listed as a candidate for the best
Foreign Language Film of the 80th Academy Awards, according to the
official website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences.
Taiwan has replaced Lust, Caution with lesser-known
director Chen Huai-En's Island Etude, about a university
student's bicycle tour of Taiwan.
Taiwan media quoted local officials as saying that Oscar
organizers rejected Lust, Caution because many of the
film's personnel in cinematography, music, recording and costume
design were not locals.
Despite being denied of the candidacy for the best Foreign
Language Film, Lee's Lust, Caution can still compete in
other categories of the 80th Academy Awards.
Lee won the best director Oscar for the gay romance
Brokeback Mountain last year, and his Kung Fu blockbuster
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won best foreign film in
2001.
Lust, Caution has proved to be a box office success
since it was screened in Taiwan since September 24. So far the
movie has reaped about 200 million New Taiwan dollars (about US$6
million), according to Taiwan media.
The film is expected to be screened on the Chinese mainland in
November.
Lust, Caution won a Golden Lion, the top prize at the
Venice Film Festival this year.
Chinese director Yin Li's The Knot, a tearjerker about
lovers separated by the Taiwan Strait, was on the list for the
Oscar best foreign movie competition, according to the Academy's
website.
Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced on
January 22, 2008. The Awards for outstanding film achievements of
2007 will be presented on Feb. 24, 2008 at the Kodak Theatre at
Hollywood and Highland Center.
(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2007)
