Not many titles nominated as best foreign language film ever break out into general categories, the rare examples have included Life is Beautiful (1998) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

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We don't usually think of "Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee as an effects filmmaker, but he gave us the romantic swordplay above swaying bamboo forests in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and, less happily, "Hulk" bouncing across the desert like a rubber ball.

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Lee has two best director Baftas already - one for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001, and another for Brokeback Mountain in 2006.

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Lee, whose previous credits include the martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Jane Austen adaptation Sense and Sensibility and comic book blockbuster Hulk, saw his latest film win a total of four Oscars in February.

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It came in ahead of ahead of more widely known films like Japanese Akira Kurosawa's "Shichinin no samurai" ("Seven Samurai"), which took second place and "Wo hu cang long" ("Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon") by Taiwan's Ang Lee, which snared third.

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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon actress Zhang Ziyi ranked No. 2 in the overall list, and international film star Gong Li was No. 5.

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