Oscar-winning director Ang Lee was accorded yet another honor Sunday when the Kansas City Film Critics Circle picked him as the winner of its best director award for 2012. It was the second such accolade the Taiwan-born, U.S.-based filmmaker has clinched so far this year with his shipwreck epic “Life of Pi.” He won the best director award announced by the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Dec. 12.
The Kansas City society is the second-oldest film critics association in the United States, younger only than the New York Film Critics Circle. It presented 12 awards this year.
With his awards from two major U.S. film critics groups, Lee is widely seen as standing a good chance of being nominated for a best director Oscar, the most prestigious accolade in the film industry. Lee bagged a best director Oscar with Brokeback Mountain in 2006.
Also that day, “Life of Pi,” a 3D movie that had 70 percent of its scenes shot in Taiwan, collected its fifth best cinematography award from major U.S. film critics societies, this time around from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.