There’s no figure more fitting or representative of the industry than Lee, whose film career spans 45 years, 70 films and 21 international awards. In 1985, he started a long-standing collaboration with Hsiao-hsien Hao, producing acclaimed films such as The Time to Live, The Time to Die, The Puppet Master, Flowers of Shanghai, Three Times, and 2015 Cannes winner The Assassin.

Lee was honoured with two Glory of the Country Awards. In 2000, he received the Grand Technical Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for In the Mood for Love. His 2012 film Renoir received nominations for Best Cinematography from the First Annual Spotlight Award and the French Academy of Cinema Arts, both in 2014. In 2016, he became the first Asian cinematographer to hold a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, USA.