Sean Wang is the director behind one of the best coming-of-age films of the decade, Didi, and he’s now been selected as one of BAFTA Breakthrough’s new stars
Director Sean Wang impressed film buffs with his feature-length debut Didi (弟弟), a sweet yet unflinchingly honest portrayal of Taiwanese American teen Chris Wang in 2008 that’s already put him on the map.
Wang was recently chosen to join the BAFTA Breakthrough cohort, supported by Netflix, which highlights up-and-coming creatives in the film, television and video game industries who are talents to look out for over the next few years.
Speaking exclusively to Screen Time, the director opened up on his decision to cast his own grandmother, Chang Li Hua, in a key role opposite Twin Peaks and cinema legend Joan Chen.
“(Chen) really feels like family,” he said. “And she brought such a warmth to the production.
“She was acting alongside my grandmother and I think any actress of her caliber could have easily been like, ‘What is this? What a joke of a production. This first-time director casts his grandmother…’
“It was a recipe that could have very easily gone off the rails but I look back and everything went right and I’m just like, ‘Wow, we’re so lucky everything went well’.
“But it wasn’t until later on that I realized it was because Joan is so generous and patient. And the reason that my grandmother’s performance is so good in the movie is because Joan was her scene partner, too.
“Joan, as an experienced actress, could kind of be the water that kept everything afloat. She could modify her performance and be reacting to what these first-time actors were doing with her. She wasn’t rigid at all.”
In addition to Didi, Wang has already directed several highly regarded shorts, including his 2023 documentary which also features Li Hua as well as his other grandmother Yi Yan Fuei.
Whatever comes next from the emerging talent shouldn’t be missed, although his next project remains a mystery as of now. But, what’s clear already is that Wang doesn’t want to be pigeonholed.
“I’m so happy and honored to be a part of this program (BAFTA Breakthrough),” he shared. “And I’m excited to get to know the cohort more. And as far as telling stories about the Asian American experience… it’s just the human experience.
“I don’t think I’m really setting out to tell Asian stories as much as I’m trying to tell stories that feel like an extension of me. And I happen to be Asian, so they’re pretty connected.”
When Didi came to streaming in the states, one champion for the film posted on X (formerly Twitter): “PSA: Didi one of the best movies of the year and one of the best coming-of-age movies this decade is now streaming on @peacock.
“Trevor and I both loved it. Old kids, you need to see this one.”
Another fan said: “Didi is now one of my top five films of 2024. Coming-of-age films always hold a special place in my heart. Love Joan Chen’s immaculate performance here, it elevates the role even further and is easily one of the best performances of the year so far.”
Online blog Unseen Films called it one of the best films of 2024 and went even further to say: “This film is glorious. It’s one of the best coming of age films I’ve ever seen. Any film that can make this old fart who is writing this feel like a kid and relate is something special.
“And that is what makes the film so magnificent – the film isn’t about the technology or the things of the moment, this is a film about growing up.”
The i paper agreed, “Coming-of-age films don’t get much better” and wrote: “At 13, we are too close to and too frustrated by our parents to see them clearly.
“Wang’s film is an attempt to look again and witness something new, and it’s a beautiful thing.”
One Letterboxd user summed up the film in a four-and-a-half star review: “Painfully accurate (but also enormously compelling) depiction of what it was like to grow up in that bizarre intermediate of gen z and millennial- MySpace, Motion City Soundtrack, and the melancholy of adolescence in the late 2000s.”
And a five-star post said: “It has the awkward innocence of Eighth Grade, the aesthetic of Mid90s and the charm of Lady Bird. The perfect coming of age combination.”
You can currently stream Didi on Peacock in the US and rent or buy it on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and the Sky Store in the UK.
The full BAFTA Breakthrough 2024 cohort is as follows:
UK BREAKTHROUGHS (21):
Alice Russell, Director – If the Streets Were on Fire
Beth Park, Lead Performance Director – Black Myth: Wukong
Clair Titley, Director – The Contestant
Cobbie Yates, Costume Designer – Layla
Daf James, Creator/Writer/Executive Producer/Musical Director – Lost Boys and Fairies
Fred Hoffman, Art Director – Paper Trail
Georgina Hurcombe, Creator/Producer/Director – Pop Paper City
Harry Gilbert, Casting Director – G’wed
Jennifer English, Performer – Baldur’s Gate 3
Kyla Harris*, Lead Performer/Co-Creator/Co-Writer/Associate Producer – We Might Regret This
Lauren Sequeira, Creator/Writer/Executive Producer – Domino Day
Lee Getty*, Co-Creator/Co-Writer/Associate Producer – We Might Regret This
Loran Dunn, Producer – Hoard
Luna Carmoon, Writer/Director – Hoard
Luned Tonderai, Series Director – Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star
Mawaan Rizwan, Performer/Writer/Creator/Executive Producer – Juice
Otto Baxter, Writer/Director/Performer – The Puppet Asylum
Poulomi Basu, Creator/Director/Writer/Art Director – MAYA: The Birth of a Superhero
Rochelle Newman, Producer – White Nanny Black Child
Shahnaz Dulaimy, Editor – Top Boy
Sophie Knowles, Viewfinder Lead Artist
*applied as a team
US BREAKTHROUGHS (13):
Angela Walker Patton**, Director – Daughters
Elaine Gomez, Creative Director – Blink Land
Erica Tremblay, Writer/Director – Fancy Dance
Hanna Park, Editor – Bottoms
Jih-E Peng, Cinematographer – Girls Will Be Girls
Joy Ngiaw, Composer – WondLa
Juliana Hoffpauir, Costume Designer – Hit Man
Karrie Shirou Shao, Game Writer/Lead Designer – Pacific Drive
Nafisa Kaptownwala, Casting Director – Didi
Natalie Rae**, Director – Daughters
Nava Mau, Performer – Baby Reindeer
Nicole He, Creative Director – The Crush House
Sean Wang, Writer/Director – Didi
**applied as a team
INDIA BREAKTHROUGHS (9):
Abhinav Chokhavatia, Game Producer – Down and Out
Christo Tomy, Director – Curry and Cyanide: The Jolly Joseph Case
Deepa Bhatia, Writer/Director/Producer – First Act
Dhiman Karmakar, Sound Designer/Production Sound Mixer – Amar Singh Chamkila
Jaydeep Sarkar, Showrunner/Series Director/Executive Producer – Rainbow Rishta
Monisha Thyagarajan, Series Producer – The Hunt for Veerappan
Neeraj Kumar, Producer/Lead Developer – Artifice: War Tactics
Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, Writer/Director/Performer – Aachar and Co.
Varun Grover, Writer/Director – All India Rank
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