A film festival in China wouldn’t be complete without the presence of the acclaimed Taiwan-born director Ang Lee, the first person of Asian descent to win Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards.

The man who entertained global audiences with films such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi” appeared at the Shanghai International Film Festival’s opening ceremony with actor Bradley Cooper last week to present the nominated films for the coveted Golden Goblet Award. A forum he addressed two days later drew the festival’s largest audience. He also showed up at Shanghai Film Group’s gala night.

Lee also did a bit of promotion for his current project, the war film “Billy Lynn’s Long Half-Time Walk,” which is due for release in November.

Lee is not only a giant in cinema but also a pioneer in new film technologies. For “Billy Lynn’s Long Half-Time Walk,” based on the eponymous novel by Ben Fountain, he teamed up with Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 to shoot the film in 120-frames-per-second High Frame Rate (HFR). It’s the highest frame rate for a film to date and is so advanced that there is currently no single digital cinema projector capable of screening the format.

Lee picked up Academy Awards for best director for “Brokeback Mountain” in 2005 and “Life of Pi” in 2012.

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” won the Oscar for best foreign-language film in 2000.

His films tell powerful, diverse and complicated stories, making Lee a director hard to stereotype. He made his debut in film in Taiwan, with the movie “Pushing Hands.” His stepping-stone to Hollywood was the costume drama “Sense and Sensibility,” based on the Jane Austen novel.

Lee, 61, is not one of the most prolific filmmakers on today’s cinematic scene, but he is certainly one of the industry’s most interesting and unpredictable storytellers.

Speaking at the festival forum, Lee said storytelling is a vehicle to express thoughts and emotions, dramas and conflicts. It’s a process that carries the imagination from the beginning, to turning points in the middle, and then to the ending.

“The story is an illusion — how you want to resonate with the audience’s heart and lead everybody through the plot, music, laughter, tears, or ups and downs of emotions,” he said.

“No matter what the journey is, the most important thing is how you show your heart to the audience and how they carry on the imagination afterward.”

Lee has become a master of marrying artistic storytelling with cutting-edge technologies. His “Life of Pi” pushed the boundaries of 3D technology to create what has been deemed a visual masterpiece. The newest boundary buster is the 4K film “Billy Lynn’s Long Half-Time Walk.

An 11-minute segment of the film was screened at a show in Las Vegas in April, using a newly developed Christie 4K 3D 120 fps-per-eye dual projector laser illuminated system. What may sound like mouthful of techno-talk was an eye-opener for industry professionals, who responded with enthusiasm.

High-frame-rate pioneer Douglas Trumbull, in an interview with IndieWire, described Lee as “bold and courageous” and said the movie could be a turning point in the cinema industry.

Lee was born in a southern agricultural area of Taiwan. His parents placed heavy emphasis on education and Chinese culture and arts. He went to the US in 1979, earning a bachelor’s degree in theater at the University of Illinois. He then enrolled in the Tisch School of Arts at New York University, where he received a master’s degree in film production.

But success didn’t come overnight. Lee was largely unemployed for six years in the US, while his wife Jane Lin, a molecular biologist, provided the family income. It was a hard time for the family, but his wife never flagged in encouraging her husband to pursue his film ideas.

“I studied theater,” Lee told the festival forum. “I’m not a technician, but I think the things I see and feel would interest others, and I have a curiosity for images. I think filmmakers should find their own path.”

He was a bit of a late-bloomer in film, turning out his first movie at age 36. His advice to young wannabe directors: take it slow.

“I think the most important thing is not to grow too fast,” he said. “I’m not saying growth should be suppressed, but rather that one shouldn’t be impatient for success. Growth requires nurturing. I think young directors should be encouraged not to be too aggressive and rushed for success. Many things won’t succeed in just one attempt.”

Although China is expected to emerge as the world’s biggest box office next year, filmmaking here is still a relatively young industry. Young but hot. Hollywood is taking notice. Foreign investment in Chinese filmmaking is starting to roll in.

“I hope now is the start, not the peak,” said Lee.

He said he also hopes the Chinese film industry seizes the opportunity to lay the groundwork for future generations of cinematographers, emphasizing the necessity to both learn the basics of cinematography and embrace new technology.

“Art is a pursuit,” he said. “Technology is a quest. Every walk of life has its specialization and fun. Cinema is an integral, natural and diversified development.”

The temptation to pursue quick profits and instant fame are traps for the cinematic scene in China, said the director.

“Growing investment is a good sign because it’s a means of living for cinema, but it’s easy to walk into the trap of audiences tiring of sameness,” he said. “When they think watching films no longer matters, we become victims of our own making.”

Hollywood is a celebrity machine that often spends more money on big names than on film production.

“Celebrities bring the audiences, and people like all the gossip,” said Lee. “It’s part of our culture and it’s understandable. However, for a filmmaker in the end, it’s about the ability to touch people’s hearts.”

Although China is a very ancient country, it has a youthful spirit that isn’t found everywhere in the world, Lee said.

“I hope everyone will work together to build a solid foundation for Chinese culture and stories to thrive,” he said. “Together, we can contribute a lot to the world.”