THE FAREWELL WINS BIG AT THE FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

Lulu Wang’s film “The Farewell” received the top award at this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, winning Best Feature. During Wang’s acceptance speech, she thanked her grandmother who inspired the film and stated that there are plenty of female filmmakers and although there are programs and encouragement, that is not enough.

“There has been a lot of conversation this year about how to encourage more women to be in film or get more women into the conversation. I just have to say, you don’t have to encourage women, there are lots of women making films and who want to make films and who are in film school. And so shadowing is great, programs are great but really what women need is just the job. Give them the freaking job. Give them the money…”

Actress Zhao Shuzhen who played Nai Nai in “The Farewell” won the award for Best Supporting Female Actress. Unfortunately Shuzhen was not available to accept her award because she was not able to leave her home in China due to the Coronavirus. Lulu Wang accepted her award on her behalf.

Best International Film at the Film Independent Spirit Awards was given to Parasite.

AWKWAFINA AND PARASITE MAKE GOLDEN GLOBES HISTORY

Awkwafina made history at the Golden Globes when she was honored for her role in “The Farewell”. Her win made her the first actress of Asian descent to take home the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

The other actresses competing in her category included Beanie Feldstein, Emma Thompson, Ana de Armas and Cate Blanchett. During her acceptance speech, Awkwafina jokingly said, “If I fall upon hard times, we can sell this, so that’s good.” In addition to thanking Zhao Shuzhen who played her grandmother in “The Farewell,” she also expressed her sincerest gratitude to Director Lulu Wang for giving her the chance of a lifetime. Awkwafina, whose birth name is Nora Lum dedicated her Golden Globe award to her father Wally.

“I’d like to dedicate this to my dad, Wally. I told you I’d get a job, Dad. And to my grandma, my best friend, the woman who raised me. And to my mother, Tia, who I always hoped was watching from somewhere above, and I hope that she’s watching me now.”

There have only been 5 women of Asian descent who have been nominated in the category: Machiko Kyoin, Miyoshi Umeki, Yvonne Elliman, Hailee Steinfeld and Constance Wu.

Kinocine PARKJEAHWAN4wiki [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

Also making history at the Golden Globes was the film, “Parasite” which won for Best Foreign Language Film. Bong Joon-ho’s movie was the first South Korean movie to win at the awards show. During his acceptance speech, Bong Joon-ho stated, “once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”

SPECIAL SCREENING OF "THE FAREWELL" STARRING AWKWAFINA & TZI MA

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival just added a special screening of the Awkwafina and Tzi Ma starring film, The Farewell. The Sundance hit directed by Lulu Wang follows the account of Wang’s own life which was previously featured in NPR’s This American Life.

The Farewell tells the story of New Yorker Billi (Awkwafina), who emigrated from China to the US with her parents when she was a young child. Now years older, she discovers that her grandmother, Nai Nai, who still resides in China, is dying from cancer. Her family decides to conceal the truth from her grandmother and instead, create a plan to have an impromptu wedding as a cover for them to say their “final” goodbyes to their Nai Nai.

The LAAPFF special screening of The Farewell will take place at 7:30pm, Wednesday, May 8 at the Regal LA Live: A Barco Innocation Center. For tickets and more information, you can head to https://festival.vcmedia.org/2019/

The Farewell is scheduled to hit theaters July 12.

TRAILER FOR JORDAN PEELE'S WEIRD CITY - AWKWAFINA, STEVE YUEN & HANNAH SIMONE

A trailer for Jordan Peele’s upcoming web series, Weird City, has just been released. The sci-fi anthology takes place in the city of Weird, where there are only two classes that exist – Above the Line where the wealthy reside and Below the Line, for the less fortunate. The series seems to poke fun at our present-day life which covers issues such as social media addiction, online dating, and our need for instant gratification.

The six episode anthology series is written by Jordan Peele and former Key & Peele writer Charlie Sanders and features a star studded cast that includes Awkwafina, Steve Yuen, Eugene Cordero, Hannah Simone, Cynthy Wu, and Auli’i Cravalho.

Weird City is scheduled to premiere February 13th on Youtube Premium.

DWAYNE JOHNSON WELCOMES AWKWAFINA TO JUMANJI SEQUEL

For the past several days, reports have surfaced that Awkwafina was in negotiations to star alongside Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in the sequel to the 2017 hit film, Jumanji. The 2017 remake which grossed over $900 million worldwide will reunite Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and director Jake Kasdan. Although the studio has not confirmed the news, Johnson did tweet the message below, which pretty much solidifies the rumors.

Awkwafina to star in her own series for Comedy Central

Awkwafina is having a stellar year which includes a standout role in Crazy Rich Asians and costarring in Oceans 8 and hosting SNL. Now, Comedy Central has ordered 10 episodes of a half hour series by the star, fittingly titled, “Awkwafina”.  

The comedy will follow her character, “a twenty-something living in Queens, striving for a larger than life existence while living with her father and grandmother.” BD Wong will play her father, and Lori Tan Chinn will play her grandmother. In a statement, Awkwafina said, “I’ve been watching Comedy Central since I was old enough to hold a remote, and so many of their shows have defined who I am today…I am so honored to be given their platform to tell the story of an Asian-American girl against the backdrop of the city [in which] I was raised.”

Awkwafina wrote the pilot along with Kary Dornetto (Portlandia, SMILF) and Teresa Hsiao (Family Guy).

Awkwafina currently graces the cover of Entertainment Weekly alongside her Crazy Rich Asians costars, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan and Constance Wu. She will also be seen on the big screen in two films at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

AWKAFINA TO HOST SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

Rapper and Actress Awkwafina is scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on October 6. The Crazy Rich Asian’s star will be joined by rapper Travis Scott. The last time an Asian American woman hosted SNL was Lucy Liu back in 2000.

The official announcement was made on Saturday Night Live’s twitter account yesterday with a photo of a cork board with the first three hosts and musical guests kicking off the show’s upcoming season.

Past Asian SNL hosts include Jackie Can, Kumail Nanjiani and Aziz Ansari.