Film director Ang Lee and screenwriter James Schamus spoke at Wellesley College on Saturday, October 26. “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. 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 asked 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.