SFFILM Exclusive

All Stories are Local—A conversation with Sean Wang

Fremont native Sean Wang opens the 2024 SFFILM Festival with his award-winning, homegrown feature debut Dìdi (弟弟)

Sean Wang and a still from his film Dìdi (弟弟).

Sean Wang is a fan of coming-of-age movies, citing as a start Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me, François Truffaut’s New Wave classic The 400 Blows, Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, Céline Sciamma’s Water Lilies, David Mickey Evans’ The Sandlot, and Eliza Hittman’s It Felt Like Love. But none of those movies stars an Asian kid or has a Taiwanese American kid from the East Bay as a protagonist. For that, Wang would have to make his own film, and he has with Festival opener Dìdi (弟弟).

“When I look at those movies, it’s not about a 13-year-old boy or girl, it’s about that 13-year-old boy or girl and it’s all the little details that culminate in their life that all of sudden make it feel like a movie you’ve never seen before,” Wang says during a recent Zoom call.

“That was the hope with our movie, too, that we can just make every detail sit on top of one another until it feels like this is a story that’s so specific, that feels like the rollercoaster of a great coming-of-age movie. The hope was for something that feels new but also feels familiar at the same time.”

What is Dìdi (弟弟) about?

Set and shot in Fremont, Wang’s hometown, the Sundance audience award winner and recipient of a special jury award for its ensemble, tells the semi-autobiographical tale of 13-year-old Chris (Izaac Wang) who experiences a rocky summer before starting high school. It is 2008 and Chris is locked into social media and is a budding videographer. But as he experiences first love, fights with his friends, tangles with his college-bound sister Vivian (Shirley Chen), and argues with his mom Chungsing (Festival honoree Joan Chen), his feelings are volatile and the sense of humiliation that comes with being 13 is too often present. His grandma Nai Nai (Wang’s real-life grandmother Chang Li Hua, one of the subjects of his Oscar®-nominated short film Nai Nai and Wài Pó) adores him but she can only provide so much comfort to a boy with roiling emotions.

“There’s a very clear one to one of the inspirations being a version of something that’s happened in my life, literally like my family, my friends, my upbringing,” Wang says. “I think a lot of it was sort of looking back at my childhood and things that I know intimately and realizing that the emotions I feel about certain experiences–I think emotions are universal, whether you’re talking about adolescence, adulthood, emotions of shame, love, fear joy. Everyone knows these emotions but the way you frame them and the way to get to those emotions vary from person to person.

“When I think of my specific experiences and me and my friends in Fremont, California, I realized I’ve never seen that version on screen and one that stars a group of friends in very multicultural community in a place like the Bay Area,” he adds. “It also takes place in the late 2000s and utilizes the sort of internet language that I think we were all sort of growing into. And the technology was moving so fast. I felt like I hadn’t seen this period captured accurately in the movies.”

What are the inspirations behind Wang’s first feature film?

Wang began writing Dìdi (弟弟) seven years ago. His original screenplay focused much more on Chris’ relationships with his friends. Wang describes his early efforts as akin to Stand By Me or Superbad. At the same time, he was making shorts that related to his mother, including 3000 Miles, a short documentary in which the voicemails she left him provides the film’s narration, and 1990, a short in which his sister becomes a mother and his mother a grandmother. And at work, he was working on projects for Mother’s Day.

Wang didn’t want to be “the mom filmmaker.” At the same time, when he read over his early efforts on Dìdi (弟弟), he realized there was something missing. Or someone.

“I think I have a very close but also complicated relationship with my mom that is so full of love,” Wang says. “I realized in writing the movie, I got to this point where I really wanted to write about my family, but especially my mom. I realized it’s the relationship in my life, that is the most of every emotion. It’s the most love and the most joy and the most care but also the root of the most anger and shame and regret and protection. It’s the most of every emotion, so I just felt there was a lot there.

“Once I realized it was about a mother-son relationship encased in the trappings of a movie like Stand By Me about adolescent friendships, that was the eureka moment. That cracked everything open for me.”

Izaac Wang stars as “Chris” in writer/director Sean Wang’s DÌDI, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / Talking Fish Pictures LLC © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

Dìdi (弟弟) is not just a story about a boy and his mother and his friends. It is also a Bay Area story, joining a family of recent films that include Fruitvale Station, Sorry to Bother You, Earth Mama, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Blindspotting, Medicine for Melancholy, and Fremont. When Wang was growing up he says he took his hometown and its environs for granted, It’s only in looking back as an adult that he realizes how special the place is and how it has come to inspire so many personal films.

“So many things were special and unique, things that I had never seen before in movies, you know, like to grow up around such a diverse multicultural community and get to learn about all these different cultures,” Wang says. “Not because it was educational taught in school, but because of where I grew up because of the proximity of my friends and the happenstance that I grew up in a deeply rooted immigrant community.

“The Bay Area at large is such fertile soil for so many different types of stories,” he adds. “I’ve been so inspired by the stories that have come out of the Bay Area and wanted to be part of that canon.”

Wang says he went into Dìdi (弟弟) with the dream of having a big Bay Area hometown premiere at SFFILM Festival. The festival previously screened two of his shorts, Have a Good Summer and Nai Nai and Wài Pó, and Dìdi (弟弟) came into the world with support from SFFILM Rainin Grant, SFFILM Invest, and SFFILM Dolby Institute Fellowship. Filmmaker and festival enjoy a strong relationship. And San Francisco is just a short ride from Fremont.

“The word that I keep describing in making this movie and our ethos in making the movie was to try to keep it homegrown, to try to make it feel very local,” Wang says. “And so, to come back and have our hometown premiere here with SFFILM, I’m so excited for all my friends from home, my hometown friends, all the Bay Area locals to see it and hopefully notice the landmarks that we shot and just have it feel very familiar.”

About the Author

Pam Grady is a freelance writer, whose work appears in the San Francisco Chronicle, 48 Hills, and other publications. She also has her own web site.

Stay In Touch With SFFILM

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.

What do the Oscars Mean to You?

SFFILM Executive Director and Academy Member Anne Lai shares her thoughts around the annual film industry celebration

Photo by Pamela Gentile

SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Award: Oppenheimer

Photo by Pamela Gentile

Regina Hall, Sterling K Brown

Photo by Pamela Gentile

Nadim Cheikhrouha, Kaouther Ben Hania

Photo by Pamela Gentile

Robert Downey Jr.

Photo by Tommy Lau

Greta Gerwig

Photo by Pamela Gentile

Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino

Photo by Tommy Lau

Ryan Gosling

Photo by Tommy Lau

Boots Riley, Cord Jefferson

Photo by Pamela Gentile

Miri Navasky, Joan Baez, and Karen O’Connor

Celine Song, Greta Lee

Most of us have heard the phrase, “And the Oscar goes to…” whether we were practicing our fantasy acceptance speech in front of the bathroom mirror, or were gathered with friends and family around a television watching the annual celebration of Hollywood’s most glamorous event. Have you ever wondered why we all feel some curiosity about “The Academy?” Here’s Anne Lai to tell you a little bit about how the Oscars work, why it is important to the film industry, and why it is also a lot of fun!

It Started at the Local Movie Theater

In my career, there were two moments that validated to my parents that I was officially working in the movies. The first time was when my name appeared in the end credits of a feature film playing at a local movie house. The second time was an invitation from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences to become a member nearly three decades into my career. And, I must say, both of these moments had me feeling a swell of pride and accomplishment, as well.

I grew up in southwest Ohio, and an excursion out to the movies was an occasional treat in my family. That meant the multiplex or that one arthouse theater, both of which were a drive through suburbia and crops of corn and soybean fields. Movies were very far away from my everyday life. But, as this year marks 30 years of working in film, I realize how much I thoroughly enjoy the annual ritual known as the Academy Awards telecast.

What is The Academy?

The first Academy Awards (affectionately known as the Oscars) took place as a private dinner in 1929. To this day, the Oscars recognize achievement in excellence in motion pictures, and the honors are bestowed by peers who are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. There are just over 10,000 Academy members located around the world with a good amount here in the San Francisco Bay. A member is invited to join after being sponsored by two Academy members and is then voted in by a specific committee made up of current Academy members. (Each Academy member can only sponsor one candidate each year). There are 19 branches that represent different areas of film craft and expertise. The simplest way to understand what branches might exist (although it’s not necessarily a one-to-one correlation) is looking at the Award categories themselves—from Editing to Directing to Producing (i.e. Best Picture) to Film Composing to Visual Effects. The Academy membership embodies so many facets of skill and knowledge and effort that—not surprisingly—mimic what it takes to make a movie from conception, to script, to production, to post production, to distribution, and marketing. Is it any wonder that the telecast of the Academy Awards can hold that element of magic, as well?

Why We Love the Oscars

The Oscars remain a standard bearer of awards shows, and the Academy members I’m privileged to know take their responsibility seriously. (And the glamor is also fun!) Film, at its best, is reflective of ourselves and our world and continues to be a global cultural force. Each of us, whether a movie goer or an Academy member, has our own relationship to and experience with a film. These unique opinions around emotional resonance, satisfaction, admiration, and appreciation define our individual vote for what is “best.” Debating amongst friends about what movie you liked, what you didn’t like, and what got overlooked is part of that wonderful community that includes every person who sees the the same film. I can’t wait to have those final passionate conversations while I watch the envelopes being opened.

SFFILM Supported Films Nominated for Academy Awards

This year, SFFILM is thrilled to celebrate the nominations of films and filmmakers we have supported and honored through our curation and exhibition, artist development, and youth education programs. We are so proud to support the films and filmmakers whose vision ultimately makes it up on screen for all of us to see. I say this from a place of a little bit of awe, with that same sense of anticipation when the lights go down in the movie theater. Filmmaking is not the most romantic and gentle of processes—it’s a miracle that any movie gets made. It takes so much willpower, patience, tenacity, funding, and a truly complex series and volume of nuts and bolts and people power and skill. No one sets out to make a bad film. To make a truly notable one is not an exercise that can be engineered, but becomes an ephemeral piece of art, entertainment, and storytelling that lights up a screen. We are rooting for them this Sunday, and know that it is truly an honor to be nominated.

About The Author

Anne Lai is the Executive Director of SFFILM. Previously, she served as Director of Creative Producing and Artist Support at Sundance Institute, where she focused on discovering and nurturing emerging independent producers, screenwriters, and directors through their first or second feature films. During her tenure there, she worked with over 300 screenwriters, directors, and producers who represented a significant and bold collection of voices and films from early development through production and distribution. Anne began her career at Scott Free, the film and television company founded by Ridley and Tony Scott, serving lastly as Vice President of Production. Anne was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, attended the University of Michigan, and received her degree in film production from the University of Southern California. She is a member of the Academy Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.

Stay In Touch With SFFILM

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox for what’s coming next.

Meet the Programmers for the 2024 SFFILM Festival

Today, we’re happy to introduce our 2024 Programming team, a collective responsible for selecting the films and events you’ll see at the Festival.

At SFFILM, the new year brings a flurry of movement to get our yearly Festival planning underway. However, one team has been hard at work since last summer to bring filmmakers from around the world to join us at the 67th San Francisco International Film Festival this April.

“The programming team for 2024 comprises curators who I admire and respect; it has been a pleasure building the 67th Festival line-up with each of these individuals.” shared Director of Programming, Jessie Fairbanks. “The group includes year round programmers, Rod Armstrong Jordan Klein, and myself, as well as several talented seasonal programmers who curate with organizations around the globe.”

Under Jessie’s leadership, the team is grounded in the longevity and community of SFFILM. Learn more about each programmer below. We look forward to sharing the programmer’s selects and the full program on March 27.

Who’s Programming for the Festival this year?

Jessie Fairbanks, Director of Programming

Born and raised in California, Jessie began her career producing documentaries and clip television for national networks. She spent a decade in NYC producing large-scale events, festivals, and creative projects for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Tribeca Film Festival, New York Film Festival, HBO, The Documentary Group, David Byrne, and Google.

Prior to becoming the Director of Programming for SFFILM, Jessie spent 14 years curating for DOC NYC, Tribeca Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, MountainFilm and others.

Jessie is a voting member of Cinema Eye Honors, screens for Sundance, and is a grant evaluator for Chicken & Egg Pictures. She served on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Underground Film Festival and Independent Film Alliance for several years, as well as numerous film festival juries and selection committees.

Rod Armstrong, Associate Director of Programming

Rod Armstrong was a cinephile before he could drive, highlighting all of the foreign films coming to the San Diego area and cajoling his parents to chauffeur him to local arthouses. The passion turned into a career with Reel.com, a website with a wide array of editorial content about films. Rod began as a contributing editor and wrapped up his work there as Director of Content. Having long been interested in the endeavors of SFFILM, Rod began in 2003 in the publicity department. Later that year, he joined the Programming team and has been there ever since. Though Rod’s interest in film is broad and omnivorous, his greatest passion, harking back to those teenage years without vehicular transportation, remains international narrative cinema.

Jordan Klein, Programmer and Curations Manager

A film lover and filmmaker at heart—Jordan Klein graduated from UC Berkeley and got his start as assistant to the legendary film producer Fred Roos (Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Lost in Translation), marking the beginning of his career within the film industry in Los Angeles. He served on numerous productions in mediums ranging from feature film, television, commercials, short films, and music videos. His foundational working experiences helped facilitate his transition to being a production coordinator and administrative assistant to the president of film and television at PRG (Production Resource Group), a multinational company providing lighting and audio solutions to film productions and live concerts for renowned music artists around the globe. Eventually returning to both film production and the San Francisco Bay Area, Jordan boarded both independent productions with the likes of American Zoetrope (Love is Love is Love) and major studio productions with Warner Brothers (The Matrix Resurrections) and Marvel Studios (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). Jordan’s deep passion, love, and commitment towards cinema brought his heart to a home at SFFILM as their Programming Coordinator.

Samah Ali, Festival Programmer—Shorts

Samah Ali is a distributor and film programmer based in New York City. She is the Video Programming Manager at Stellar Entertainment, putting movies and television shows on airplanes around the world. She also programs for Academy Award qualifying festivals San Francisco International Film Festival, DOC NYC, and Hot Docs Film Festival. In her spare time, Samah sits on the Board of Directors at The Black Screen Office in Canada and wastes time on the app formerly known as Twitter, reach out to her @sistersamah.

Kristal Sotomayor, Festival Programmer—Features

Kristal Sotomayor is a bilingual Latinx programmer, journalist, and filmmaker based in Philadelphia. They have been distinguished as a 2023 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader and received the prestigious Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellowship. Kristal is in their third year programming feature films for SFFILM. They have programmed for film festivals across the country including True/False Film Fest, Frameline and Tri-Co Film Fest as well as being the Programming Director for the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival. Kristal’s short immigrant rights documentary Expanding Sanctuary premiered at the 2023 St. Louis International Film Festival. They are in post-production on a short documentary Don’t Cry For Me All You Drag Queens about a legendary drag queen and in-development on the short docu-animation adventure film Alx Through The Labyrinth. Kristal is an Outfest Creative Hope Fellow, If/Then North Shorts Resident, MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Visiting Fellow, DCTV Docu Work-In-Progress Lab Fellow, and NeXtDoc Fellow.

Bedatri Choudhury, Festival Programmer—Features

Bedatri studied literature and cinema in New Delhi and attended graduate school at Tisch School of the Arts. She has worked extensively with documentary films, particularly in the areas of program management and commissioning. She was most recently the Managing Editor of Documentary magazine, and is a programmer with DOCNYC and SFFILM. An alumna of the NYFF Critics Academy, Sundance and SXSW Press Inclusion Initiatives, the National Critics’ Institute, and Berlinale Talents, she lives in New York City and can often be heard on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. She is presently The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Arts and Entertainment Editor.

Amada Torruella, Festival Programmer—Shorts

Amada is a mixed Salvadoran artist, filmmaker and film programmer raised in El Salvador and Canada, based between El Salvador and Southern California. Amada centers joy, tenderness and beauty in the mundane among nuanced and difficult situations and is passionate about exploring memory, grief, Central American landscapes and the relationship between people and territory. Amada’s work has been shown in The New Yorker, BlackStar Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, amongst others; Amada is currently developing their first feature film: Vena Acuatica, a finalist at the IF/THEN Global Pitch Competition on Environmental Stories at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Since 2014, Amada has worked as a film programmer and has programmed for Indie Grits, New Orleans FF, Wildscreen Festival and Alharaca El Salvador (Feminist Newsroom).

Joseph Flores, Programming Manager

Joseph Flores brings a wealth of experience to SFFILM in working within the Bay Area nonprofit media arts scene. As the organization embarks on a new journey at the familiar surroundings of 9th Street, Joseph has literally come full circle as that’s where he began his career having previously worked as an Office Manager during his stint at the Center for Asian American Media (formerly NAATA). Since then, he was fortunate enough to have caught on to SFFILM as a coordinator while preparing for its 50th Anniversary and has since worked within the Programming Department in different capacities. Joseph currently oversees the departmental interoffice systems as the Programming Manager and also handles the annual submissions process for the SFFILM Festival.

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Behind the scenes with Oppenheimer filmmakers

SFFILM, in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, presented Christopher Nolan’s staggering global cinematic phenomenon Oppenheimer as the 2023 recipient of the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Prize.

What is the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Prize?

In December, SFFILM, in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, presented Christopher Nolan’s staggering global cinematic phenomenon Oppenheimer as the 2023 recipient of the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Prize. This honor celebrates the compelling depiction of scientific themes or characters in a narrative feature film, and the special event featured a pre-screening conversation with Oppenheimer Production Designer Ruth De Jong, Editor Jennifer Lame, four-time Academy Award winning Sound Designer and Supervising Sound Editor Richard King along with University of California Berkeley Professor of Physics Benjamin Safdi.

SFFILM’s partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation—the nation’s leading philanthropic grantor for science and the arts—culminates in the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative. Launched in 2015, the program celebrates and highlights cinema that brings together science and the art of storytelling, showing how these two seemingly disparate areas can combine to enhance the power of one another. The selections are meant to immerse a broad public audience in the challenges and rewards of scientific discovery, as well as to engage members of the scientific community.

In the words of University of California Berkeley Professor of Physics Benjamin Safdi, “…the Trinity Test [scene]… I thought, as a viewer and as a physicist, was exhilarating. One thing I really appreciated that you did with the sound was [including] the delay. When the bomb went off, I was like ‘Oh okay, here comes the sound.’ And it didn’t, and I thought ‘Oh, all right! Checkmark for them!’

Watch the full conversation to hear about the making of this summer blockbuster.

SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Prize Conversation

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Welcome to SFFILM’s Ninth Annual Doc Stories

Since 2014, Doc Stories has become a must-attend event for documentary lovers and filmmakers alike, a celebration of the year’s most vital nonfiction filmmaking. SFFILM’s Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks shares some thoughts about this year’s stellar program and why she loves documentary films. Doc Stories runs November 2–5 in-person and streaming and tickets are on sale now.

2023 Doc Stories Program

From a Programmer: Q&A with Jessie Fairbanks

Q: Tell us about the 2023 Doc Stories program.

I am so proud to share this year’s program! We start with a jubilant Opening Night screening of Matthew Heineman’s new film American Symphony which profiles a year in the life of a creative polyglot: songwriter, singer, and performer Jon Batiste. Our Centerpiece program is Copa 71, a rousing and illuminating archival excavation of the first womens’ World Cup in Mexico in 1971. For Closing Night, we welcome back the prestigious Wim Wenders with his latest documentary Anselm, featuring life work of prolific multi-faceted artist, Anselm Kiefer, and it is presented in glorious 3-D.

We are honored to welcome back local filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss with their incisive new documentary The Mission, which explores the intersection of colonialism, religion, and misguided curiosity. We also feature UC Santa Cruz professor Irene Lusztig, with her moving portrait Richland about two towns wrestling with their not-so-distant atomic past. We will have Joanna Rudnick with her heartwarming film about childrens’ stories, Story & Pictures By, and will have in-person appearances from the authors and artists! There will also be in-person presentations and screenings from Lisa Cortés, Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine, Caroline Suh, Cara Mones, Kaouther Ben Hania, dream hampton, Roger Ross Williams, and many more.

And, we are honored to host a special tribute to our late friend, Julia Reichert. We curated the tribute in collaboration with Reichert’s partner, Steven Bognar, and this celebration of her life and work offers space for collective remembrance of a beloved filmmaker. Reichert was a tireless advocate for womens’ rights, workers’ rights, and mentor to a legion of documentarians. Her influence and generosity of spirit cultivated a global network of social crusaders who continue to shape the documentary genre today.

Q: Why do you love documentaries?

For me, documentaries sit somewhere between oral history and journalism. There is a proximity to the subject matter with docs that is tactile and invigorating. I always learn something new when watching a documentary and often find myself evaluating the world around me: sometimes it is an exploration of beliefs and ideologies, sometimes it is a reflection of a sense of self or community, and sometimes it is a prophetic spark to mind the patterns of human history. And no matter the content, documentaries are almost always inspirational. It may not be readily obvious at the start, but the sheer creation of a documentary is an act of defiance and hope. These films are made by people who care deeply about the world we live in, who want to engage audiences in a quest to deepen our connections and understanding of one another. There is so much to love about documentaries.

Q: What are some common misconceptions about documentary film, and what is more accurate about the artform?

That they are either didactic and elitist, or mass made fodder for streaming platforms, but documentaries are both artful and exciting! We have been living in a golden era of documentaries for well over a decade now and the expansion of doc filmmaking has encouraged so many new storytellers to the forefront who are sharing their histories, communities, and experiences in ways that enriches people and human connection. Yes, the increased interest in documentaries has also resulted in prolific sub-genres of say, true crime entertainment and celebrity biopics that can veer into campy or manufactured aesthetics, but it also means there are more individuals and collectives making docs and more artists who are pushing the form and engaging new audiences. I think people also forget that non-fiction work can be as gorgeously shot as any fiction film, with incredible narrative architecture and immersive visual styles.

Documentary film expands the boundaries of all filmmaking, and we look forward to seeing you this year at Doc Stories! Get your tickets now, so you can say, “I Saw It At SFFILM.”

About Jessie Fairbanks

Jessie Fairbanks is the Director of Programming at SFFILM. She leads the artistic curations for both the annual San Francisco International Film Festival and Doc Stories, as well as the organization’s year-round offerings, bringing fresh and compelling work and artists from around the world to the Bay Area. Prior to SFFILM, Jessie was the Director of Programming for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, the oldest documentary film festival in North America. She has over 20 years of experience in the independent film space, and her earlier programming work includes DOC NYC, Tribeca Film Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Sundance, Chicago International Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, MountainFilm, Nashville Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and Woods Hole Film Festival.