CinemaLit: The Farewell (2019)
Date and Time for this Past Event
- Friday, Mar 15, 2024 6pm
Location
Mechanics' Institute
57 Post St
Details
March 15 – The Farewell (2019), 99 minutes, directed by Lulu Wang, starring Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, and Zhao Shu-zhen.
Nai Nai, beloved family matriarch living in Changchun, China, is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Through manipulation and deceit, the family keeps the information from her while preparing for a cousin’s wedding. Such is the delicious set up for director-screenwriter Lulu Wang’s warm and tangy comedy-drama. The Farewell is filled with family dysfunction, generational and cultural clashes, and recognitions of the painful, funny, and loving dynamics of families everywhere. Wang refused financiers who wanted to goose up the comedy and add prominent white characters. She held out and had the last laugh, as The Farewell became an internationally acclaimed box office success.
March 2024 CinemaLit - Women Screenwriter-Directors on Women’s Lives
March at CinemaLit features a series of five startlingly fresh and visionary films written and directed by women. Each focuses on women’s lives with an emphasis on displacement, both geographic and emotional. In an industry dominated by finding the next billion dollar franchise and breakthrough technology, these films offer other ways of appreciating the expanding potential of motion picture story and content. Join us for Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993), Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia (2009), Lulu Wang’s The Farewell (2018), Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland (2020), and Sarah Polley’s Women Talking (2022).
March is Women's History Month and Mechanics' Institute is proud to feature works of cinematic importance, vision, and gravity by Women Screenwriters and Directors.