Another filmmaker with Miami roots is at a tipping point – this time, it’s Lulu Wang who is on the verge of becoming the indie film world’s Next Big Thing!
Wang’s second feature film, The Farewell, stars rapper and actress Awkwafina, the breakout star of 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians. The Farewell premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival this past January, where it received a rapturous response and sparked a bidding war among US distributors, and ultimately sold to A24 Films for a whopping $7 million, a very high price for a theatrical independent film.
The Farewell is now on the eve of its release, and Miami Film Festival will be hosting a very special private screening for the film’s Florida Premiere on July 11th at MDC’s Tower Theater Miami – which Wang will attend in person, and participate in an on-stage post-screening conversation with MFF director Jaie Laplante, after the screening.
Wang was born in Beijing, China but at the age of 6, her family moved to Miami. Wang was raised in Miami and eventually graduated from New World School of the Arts before settling in Los Angeles to pursue her film career.
In 2014 she wrote and directed her feature film debut, Posthumous, with an international cast that included star Brit Marling (Netflix’s “The OA”). Wang attended the North American premiere of Posthumous at the 2015 Miami Film Festival. She then returned to Miami Film Festival’s 36th edition earlier this year as a speaker at the Festival’s Symposium on Chinese Cinema, sponsored by the Miami Confucius Institute.
Boots Riley, Kiva Reardon, Barry Jenkins, Lulu Wang, & Aaron Stewart-Ahn
The Farewell is an emotional, highly autobiographical comedy-drama that is already garnering Oscar buzz. Join Miami Film Society today for an invitation to meet Lulu Wang in person at the Florida premiere on July 11.
