Green Ray Screening | Brokeback Mountain 20th Anniversary Special Screening

Director Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain not only marked a major turning point in his creative career after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but also brought his prowess in cross-cultural storytelling, emotional dialectics and portrayal of human nature to new heights. Adapted from the novel by Annie Proulx, this work places his signature depiction of delicate emotions within a wholly different context: the masculine culture of the American West, repressed intimate relationships, and unspoken identity experiences.

Filmed across the United States and Canada, Ang Lee blended the grand landscapes of Western movies with the emotional subtlety characteristic of Chinese-language cinema through his distinctive restraint and understatement. He let the secret love between two men spanning decades take root amid the quiet, lengthy shots of the land. After its release in 2005, Brokeback Mountain quickly became a cultural phenomenon and ultimately stands as one of the most powerful tragedies in cinematic history.

Ang Lee himself won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the 62nd Venice Film Festival for this work. He also took home the awards for Best Film and Best Director from numerous organizations and film festivals including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Golden Globe Awards, the Producers Guild of America, the Critics' Choice Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards. Furthermore, Brokeback Mountain received eight nominations at the 78th Academy Awards, the most among all films that year, and ultimately claimed three major awards: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. Today, Brokeback Mountain is not only a classic of LGBTQ-themed cinema, but also strikes a chord with countless audiences through universal emotions that transcend identities. It has cemented its place as one of the most beloved and culturally influential works in Ang Lee's career.

Green Ray decided to re-release Brokeback Mountain twenty years later. This move is not merely a tribute to its artistic achievements, but also an opportunity to re-examine its resonance in modern society: the constraints on love and identity, unspoken feelings, as well as the memories and regrets left behind as time goes by. As the world keeps changing, looking back at this film still allows us to feel its quiet and enduring power. It reminds us that films do not only chronicle an era, but also gain new vitality as time passes.

On the evening of December 8, let us revisit the story of Jack and Ennis, return to the vast mountain valley, and once again feel those repressed, hidden yet persistently lingering emotions.

Director: Ang Lee

Screenwriters: Larry McMurtry / Diana Ossana / Annie Proulx

Cast: Heath Ledger / Jake Gyllenhaal / Michelle Williams / Anne Hathaway / Kate Mara

Genre: Drama / Romance / LGBTQ+ / Family

Production Countries/Regions: United States / Canada

Language: English

Release Dates: September 2, 2005 (Venice Film Festival) / January 6, 2006 (Canada) / January 13, 2006 (United States)

Runtime: 134 minutes

Film Synopsis

In the western part of Wyoming, the United States, Ennis, a quiet and reserved farmer portrayed by Heath Ledger, and Jack, a cheerful and outgoing cowboy played by Jake Gyllenhaal, are sent to herd sheep in the mountains. The place is remote and sparsely populated, leaving them with nothing but flocks of sheep for company, leading a dull and monotonous life. On a bitterly cold night, driven by alcohol and surging emotions, they gave in to their impulses and did what they were not supposed to do. Since then, Brokeback Mountain has witnessed the most wonderful days of their lives.

When the seasonal herding came to an end, pressured by social conventions, Jack and Ennis parted reluctantly and went on to marry and start families respectively. Ennis wed Alma, whom he had known since childhood, and they had two lovely daughters. Jack moved to Texas. With the support of his wife Lureen's family, his career thrived, and he also had a son. Though they were deeply in love with each other, they could only meet at fixed times every year. Alma, who learned the truth, was plunged into immense agony, while the two men could never be content with just a few days of reunion each year. Then an accident happened...

Film Recommendation

Brokeback Mountain is an immensely sorrowful tale of two lives wasted, yet it remains exquisitely poignant. Jack compromises himself, selling farm tractors for his detested father-in-law. Ennis turns into a grumpy, taciturn old cowboy. Each disappointing holiday drives their true selves further out of reach. Beyond that, Brokeback Mountain mirrors the lives of most of us, regardless of sexual orientation. Our lives are shaped by a single moment: everything seems perfect and inevitable, only to be poisoned by mistakes in the end. Though both Ennis and Jack have their flaws, they fight fiercely against this decay, standing up against prejudice as well as mediocrity and monotony. Their story is not a tragedy, but truly an epic of heroism.

——Peter Bradshaw

Director Introduction

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director born in Chaozhou, Pingtung. He has won numerous major international film awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Golden Lion Awards for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, two Golden Bear Awards for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the BAFTA Fellowship. His representative works include Eat Drink Man Woman, Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi.

Screening Info

This screening event was held at BLOC Cinema from 18:00 to 20:30 on Monday, December 8, 2025.

The specific venue was ArtsOne Building, Queen Mary University of London, 1 Westfield Way, London E1 4PD.

Pre-screen Introduction

Chris Berry is a Professor of Film Studies at King's College London. In the 1980s, he worked at China Film Import & Export Corporation in Beijing. His academic research centers on Chinese-language cinema and other Chinese-language audiovisual media, while he also follows relevant studies of neighboring countries. He has a particular research interest in queer film and television culture in East Asia, mediatized public spaces in East Asian cities, as well as national and transnational film and television cultures across East Asia. Together with John Erni, Peter Jackson and Helen Leung, he co-edited the Queer Asia book series published by Hong Kong University Press. Prior to taking up his current position, he taught at La Trobe University in Melbourne, the University of California, Berkeley, and Goldsmiths, University of London.

Brokeback Mountain differs from most other Western films not only in its blend of melodrama, but also in its adoption of a distinct form of melodrama unique to China: films centered on family ethics. Additionally, it draws on another regional subcultural tradition — comedies created by and for heterosexual women that tell stories of love between two young men.

——《The Chinese Side of the Mountain》

Videos and Photos from the screening event