To get you in the mood before Dubai's film festival rolls into town, Ductac has its own mini-fest running from December 3-5 that focuses entirely on the Taiwenese director Ang Lee.
Lee is perhaps best known for his 2006 epic Brokeback Mountain, but Ductac has steered away from that to offer a more rounded outlook on the director's output over the past 27 years.
The festival kicks off with a screening of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the 2000 martial arts flick that bagged 80 awards internationally, and ends with Eat Drink Man Woman from 1994, which gathered Academy Award, Golden Globe and Bafta nominations back when Lee was still very much a rising star.
Here's a rundown of the four-day festival:
Saturday December 3, 7pm
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- One man sets out to recover a magical sword in Qing Dynasty China, only for his quest to be hampered by his love for the mysterious Yu Shu Lien. Typical.
Sunday December 4, 6pm
Sense and Sensibility
- Exuberant and colourful take on the Jane Austen classic, with a thoroughly English cast including Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman.
Sunday December 4, 8.30pm
Fine Line
- Ang Lee's graduation thesis film from New York's Tisch School of arts (where he was classmates with Spike Lee) about the relationship between a Chinese-American girl and Italian-American boy in '80s NYC.
Monday December 5, 8pm
Eat Drink Man Woman
- Recently widowed Mr. Chu is the great living chef in Taipei but struggles with his three rebellious daughters. Cue the entry of Mrs. Liang, also a widow and a touch cantankerous, who brings an onslaught of true love, separation and angst into Chu's life.
For more info see www.ductac.org. Ductac is in the Mall of Emirates, Dubai. All films are FREE to watch.
