By any indicator, filmmaker Sean Wang has had a career year–and we’re only in Month Two. His narrative feature debut, Dìdi, captured the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble in the US Dramatic Competition at the recently concluded Sundance Film Festival, and that same week, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject for Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma).
What’s more, Focus Features acquired Dìdi for a mid-summer release, and Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó just premiered on Disney+ as part of the streamer’s “People & Places” series.
This is not to dub Wang, 29, an overnight sensation, mind you. Dìdi was six years in the making, earning support from various Sundance Institute labs and Google Creative Labs.
And during that gestation period, he made a number of shorts, including Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó, a charming slice-of-life capture of his two grandmothers as they exude the day-to-day joys of living–dancing, singing, cosplaying action heroes, cooking–while ruminating on the pains of aging and loss.
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