Latest news with #AndrewAhn
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nia DaCosta, Andrew Ahn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Kyle MacLachlan, and Eliza Hittman to Serve on Tribeca Festival 2025 Jury
The 2025 Tribeca Festival is bringing the best of the best together to select this year's festival awards. IndieWire can announce that Nia DaCosta, Andrew Ahn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Kyle MacLachlan, Eliza Hittman, and more acclaimed filmmakers will be among the jury members for festival, which will take place June 4 through 15. The Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, will honor works across 15 competition categories. In addition, the Nora Ephron Award will honor an exceptional female filmmaker who represents the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer. The winners in each category will be announced at the Tribeca Festival ceremony on June 12. More from IndieWire These Cannes 2025 Prize Winners Will Inspire Oscar Campaigns Cowboys vs. Accountants: The Real World of International Production Financing | Future of Filmmaking Summit at Cannes 'We're proud to welcome an eclectic group of jurors to this year's Tribeca Festival,' Nancy Lefkowitz, EVP at Tribeca Enterprises, said. 'Their breadth of expertise across genres will be instrumental in recognizing standout storytellers and honoring bold new voices from around the world.' '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' director Nia DaCosta will lead the jury for the U.S. Narrative Feature Competition, which also includes Bleecker Street head Kent Sanderson, 'The Underground Railroad' and 'Nickel Boys' author Colson Whitehead, 'Fight Club' and 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' producer Art Linson, and 'Come Sunday' director Joshua Marston. The jury for the U.S. International Narrative Feature Competition consists of 'Succession' star Dagmara Dominczyk, 'Twin Peaks' actor Kyle MacLachlan, Metrograph Pictures' head David Laub, 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' star Toby Jones, and 'L'arte della gioia' director Valeria Golino. Jurors for the 2025 Documentary Feature Competition are Imagine Documentaries president Sara Bernstein, Breakwater Studios' founder Ben Proudfoot, and 'Romy and Michele's High School Reunion' icon Mira Sorvino. The Best New Narrative Director Competition jurors include 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' star Matthew Broderick, Paramount Pictures EVP of Worldwide Acquisitions Sejin Croninger, and 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' director Eliza Hittman. For the Best New Documentary Director Competition, 'Pray Away' director Kristine Stolakis, 'Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story' producer Sean Stuart, and 'Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story' director Jamila Wignot serve on the jury. The coveted Nora Ephron Award recipient will be selected by 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' actress Caroline Aaron, 'Schitt's Creek' alum Annie Murphy, and Head of Indie Film Licensing at Hulu, Aijah Keith. Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jennifer Beals, Raúl Castillo, Alex Karpovsky, and Mickey Sumner will select the 2025 Viewpoints Competition winner, while short film jurors include Ilana Glazer, Havana Rose Liu, Sheila Nevins, and more. The AT&T Untold Stories Greenlight Committee ranges from director Andrew Ahn to Oscar-nominated actresses Stephanie Hsu and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, plus Gina Rodríguez. Check out the Tribeca program here. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
ABC News
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
New Wedding Banquet movie from Bowen Yang and Andrew Ahn re-imagines Ang Lee's classic with a 2025 lens
In 1993, homosexuality was still criminalised in many US states; Asian-Americans faced widespread prejudice; and Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet was released. What: A modern re-imagining of a rom-com that moves the conversation forward from its early 90s predecessor. Directed by: Andrew Ahn Starring: Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-chan, Joan Chen, Youn Yuh-jung Where: In cinemas Likely to make you feel: Amused, heart-warmed and reflective In spite of its era, the cross-cultural celebration of queer love easily outperformed box office expectations, won the coveted Berlinale Golden Bear award and was nominated for both an Oscar and Golden Globe. Set in New York, the film follows a queer Taiwanese-American (Wai-Tung) who tries to appease his meddling parents by marrying a Chinese woman (Wei-Wei) desperate for a green card. The farce begins when his parents arrive and insist on planning an elaborate celebration; spending time with their son, his "roommate" boyfriend (Simon) and his bride-to-be. Andrew Ahn happened upon The Wedding Banquet as a kid, when his mum accidentally rented it from a video store. "We watched it together as a family, maybe a little awkwardly," the filmmaker laughs, "and it really stayed with me. "I don't even think I knew why in the moment, but in retrospect, it was so special that the first gay film I ever saw was also a gay and Asian film. "I think it really put me on the right path as a person and as a filmmaker." More than 30 years since its release, Ahn is behind the new adaptation of what is an "incredibly meaningful film" for him personally, as well as for the countless queer Asian-Americans (and Asian-Australians) who are so rarely reflected on screen. Ahn shot to prominence with his 2022 film Fire Island, a re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice set at the gay party destination, which delves into racism within the LGBTQIA+ community. And Ahn has brought back that film's star, SNL and Wicked favourite Bowen Yang, for his latest rom-com. His modern take on The Wedding Banquet, like the original, is in many ways a comedy of errors. Angela (Star Wars' Kelly Marie Tran) and her partner Lee (Killers of the Flower Moon's Lily Gladstone) are desperate for a baby, but can't afford further IVF treatments. Meanwhile, art student and closeted heir to a multinational company Min (Korea's Han Gi-chan) is worried about his expiring student visa, and is heartbroken when his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris (Yang) dismisses his proposal as an attempt to get a green card, and rejects him. So, naturally, Min proposes to Angela instead, offering her the money for IVF in exchange for the chance to stay in the US, free from familial expectations. Simple, right? Until Min's grandmother (Minari's Youn Yuh-jung) suddenly flies in from Korea, insisting on a traditional Korean wedding — and everyone's invited. While his new film is in some ways a playful exploration of US immigration and visa rights, Ahn hopes it's also relevant for audiences outside the US. "I know there's a large Korean and Asian diaspora in Australia, and I often think about how we really have to fight for our culture, in a way," he says. "Because it's not something we're constantly living in, in the way that Korean people in Korea just, you know, exist in it." For Ahn, The Wedding Banquet marked a kind of "wish fulfilment". He was inspired by his brother and sister-in-law's traditional Korean wedding, and particularly their Paebaek ceremony. This ritual sees the pair wearing hanboks, bowing to their elders, catching chestnuts and grapes, and the groom piggy-backing his bride around a table. Ahn saw how embracing that custom brought his brother closer to his wife, his family and his culture, and remembers wondering if he'd ever be able to have that same experience with his own queer partner. "I wanted to have a Korean wedding in the film to show this culture, and maybe find ways to make it more inclusive, more queer-friendly." In Lee's original, Taiwanese and Chinese wedding customs are playfully parodied too, a detail that's not missed in Ahn's re-imagining. In the film's opening shot, a Chinese lion dancer is suddenly revealed to be a flamboyant drag queen — red sequins and all. "I really love this joke of something so traditional and then something so queer teaming up," Ahn says. Ang Lee (who later went on to direct Brokeback Mountain) ended his 1993 Wedding Banquet on an unconventional note: Wai-Tung and Wei-Wei continue their lavender marriage and, after accidentally falling pregnant on the wedding night, decide to co-parent their baby with Wai-Tung's partner Simon. Ahn says when re-watching the original as an adult, he was "really struck by this question of queer family-building". "I was in this phase of my adulthood where I was thinking about things like marriage and having children," he explains. While in the original film "gay marriage wasn't even a whisper of an idea", exploring modern queer families and relationships "felt like very fertile ground to make this update to the film". Now that queer couples can marry, he wanted to follow a couple asking, "Do we actually want to?" Ahn puts his own spin on the accidental pregnancy of Lee's original, too. "I wanted to explore: 'What if we see a queer couple planning to try and get pregnant, planning to try and have a baby?' Now that many queer people in the Western world can move away from coming-out stigma and fighting for marriage, health care and anti-discrimination rights, Ahn says he wanted to explore "how that conversation has changed". "I ultimately wanted to tell a story about queer family-building, and how there's a lot of joy … but also this inherent struggle that we just have to find a way to work through." The Wedding Banquet is in cinemas now.
Korea Herald
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Youn Yuh-jung owns it: 'I've been in this job too long'
Andrew Ahn's 'The Wedding Banquet' remake brings together cross-cultural cast to explore complications of love and acceptance "Korean feels best," Youn Yuh-jung says with a sense of relief. "English is torture for me." The 78-year-old actress and her co-star Han Gi-chan have just endured a four-hour marathon of back-to-back English interviews when we connect over Zoom for our conversation about "The Wedding Banquet," director Andrew Ahn's reimagining of Ang Lee's 1993 classic, which hits US theaters April 18. Han nods vigorously in agreement. "Hearing Korean after speaking English all day feels so different," he says. "It has more authenticity somehow." Ahn's film transforms Lee's groundbreaking comedy about a gay Taiwanese man who stages a fake marriage to appease his parents into a contemporary story with two queer couples at its center. Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han) are in a relationship alongside Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone), who are struggling with fertility issues. When Min's visa is about to expire, he proposes marriage to Angela in exchange for financing her partner's IVF treatments. Complications arise when Min's formidable grandmother (Youn) arrives unexpectedly from Korea to oversee an elaborate traditional wedding. "I didn't want to do it at first," Youn says, her characteristic bluntness on full display. "Reading scripts in English gives me a headache. And I'd done an independent film before — they're so tight on money, it's exhausting." A hint of warmth emerges when she mentions her children's influence. "But my sons pushed me. They happen to be Americans who love Bowen Yang and have seen Lily Gladstone's work before," she explains. "So it became a family decision, and I don't regret it." For director Andrew Ahn, who spoke with The Korea Herald a day after the conversation with Youn and Han, the project allowed him to revisit a foundational text through a contemporary lens. "Ang Lee's 'The Wedding Banquet' is one of my favorite films and the first queer film I ever saw," he explains. "So much has changed for the queer community since 1993. I've been having conversations with my boyfriend about marriage and kids for years, and I wanted to talk about how queer people build family." The most striking difference between the original and the remake is the older generation's attitudes toward queerness. Where the parents in Ang Lee's version had to be kept in the dark about their son's sexuality, Ahn's film prominently features family members who show varying degrees of support and acceptance. "I love the character of Angela's mother May, played by Joan Chen, because she's overly enthusiastic about her child being queer," Ahn says. "In Min's storyline, too, we see how different generations have different priorities, and how meaningful relationships require truly seeing and understanding each other. "Those characters couldn't have existed in 1993. I was interested in exploring intergenerational conflict and how parenting and allyship require really seeing someone else." Youn's character, initially skeptical of her grandson's fiancee, quickly sees through the charade but becomes the couple's most unexpected champion. When asked if she drew from any personal experience to portray this evolving relationship, Youn waves away the question with the detached ease of someone who's seen it all. "I've been doing this job too long to need inspiration from real life," she says matter-of-factly. "Next year marks my 60th year acting. At my age — I'll be 80 in Korean age next year — there's nothing I can't understand. The world keeps changing, and you have to accept it whether you understand it or not. That's the wisdom that comes with age. I could play a grandmother without much burden because I can put all my lived experience into the character." Han, born in 1998, represents a different generation entirely. Unlike Youn, he had never seen the original film before being cast. "I was born five years after it came out — maybe my parents saw it," he laughs. "I decided to wait until after filming to watch it so I could approach the character freshly." "You didn't need to see it," Youn interjects. Their generational gap seemed to spill into language as well. Unlike Youn, who speaks English with the cautious precision of someone still finding her footing (she lived in the US from 1975 to 1984), Han delivers it with remarkable fluency and confidence despite this being his first time shooting in America. "His English is unbelievable," Youn says. "This was his first time abroad, and he speaks perfectly! That's the power of Korean mothers. His mother only let him watch English TV growing up." Han says with a smile, "I thanked my mother before I left for the shoot. I grew up attending an English kindergarten in Seoul and watching Sesame Street and SpongeBob. Acting in English was always on my bucket list, and getting to do it with Youn in my first English-language project is just a huge honor." The pair developed a remarkable chemistry despite having never met before filming. Their first scene together — an emotionally charged confrontation — was scheduled for day one of production. "My son tried to get them to move it later in the schedule," Youn recalls. "But I'm a professional. Andrew must have had his reasons to shoot it first." Ahn speaks reverently of working with Youn, appreciating her decades of experience and insight. "I loved her honesty on set. After our first take together, I said, 'That was lovely, can we go again?' She replied, 'If it was really lovely, we wouldn't have to go again.' She followed up by saying, 'American directors are so nice. You don't have to be nice—just tell me what to do.'" That directness extended to the script itself. When the Korean dialogue felt too literally translated, Youn worked with Ahn to make it more authentic. One of the film's most memorable lines — when her character dismisses Angela, her grandson's "bride," as a "lesbian kkotbaem" (lesbian gold digger) — was her own invention. "That was my idea," Youn says. "Andrew and I collaborated on the Korean translations throughout the filming. When things felt too direct, they sounded strange. We agreed I could change lines to make them feel more natural." The film is set for release in Korea this fall, and everyone involved hopes it will spark meaningful conversations about acceptance. "My hope," Ahn says, "is that this film shows these characters with such humanity that audiences can't deny them. Even if someone doesn't understand or approve of homosexuality, they might respect these people's lives and recognize that they want a family just as deeply as anyone else." Han, who previously starred in the queer Korean drama "Where Your Eyes Linger," agrees. "Koreans tend to be conservative about these issues, but I hope people view this with an open mind as simply a story about love between people. This isn't just about being queer — it's about building family, and I hope people can see it from that broader perspective." When asked about her thoughts on the film's reception back home, Youn delivers the perfect deadpan closer: "I have no message to share. I'm not the Pope."
Korea Herald
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Youn Yuh-jung owns it: ‘I've been in this job too long‘
Andrew Ahn's 'The Wedding Banquet' remake brings together cross-cultural cast to explore complications of love and acceptance "Korean feels best," Youn Yuh-jung says with a sense of relief. "English is torture for me." The 78-year-old actress and her co-star Han Gi-chan have just endured a four-hour marathon of back-to-back English interviews when we connect over Zoom for our conversation about "The Wedding Banquet," director Andrew Ahn's reimagining of Ang Lee's 1993 classic, which hits US theaters April 18. Han nods vigorously in agreement. "Hearing Korean after speaking English all day feels so different," he says. "It has more authenticity somehow." Ahn's film transforms Lee's groundbreaking comedy about a gay Taiwanese man who stages a fake marriage to appease his parents into a contemporary story with two queer couples at its center. Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han) are in a relationship alongside Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone), who are struggling with fertility issues. When Min's visa is about to expire, he proposes marriage to Angela in exchange for financing her partner's IVF treatments. Complications arise when Min's formidable grandmother (Youn) arrives unexpectedly from Korea to oversee an elaborate traditional wedding. "I didn't want to do it at first," Youn says, her characteristic bluntness on full display. "Reading scripts in English gives me a headache. And I'd done an independent film before — they're so tight on money, it's exhausting." A hint of warmth emerges when she mentions her children's influence. "But my sons pushed me. They happen to be Americans who love Bowen Yang and have seen Lily Gladstone's work before," she explains. "So it became a family decision, and I don't regret it." For director Andrew Ahn, who spoke with The Korea Herald a day after the conversation with Youn and Han, the project allowed him to revisit a foundational text through a contemporary lens. "Ang Lee's 'The Wedding Banquet' is one of my favorite films and the first queer film I ever saw," he explains. "So much has changed for the queer community since 1993. I've been having conversations with my boyfriend about marriage and kids for years, and I wanted to talk about how queer people build family." The most striking difference between the original and the remake is the older generation's attitudes toward queerness. Where the parents in Ang Lee's version had to be kept in the dark about their son's sexuality, Ahn's film prominently features family members who show varying degrees of support and acceptance. "I love the character of Angela's mother May, played by Joan Chen, because she's overly enthusiastic about her child being queer," Ahn says. "In Min's storyline, too, we see how different generations have different priorities, and how meaningful relationships require truly seeing and understanding each other. "Those characters couldn't have existed in 1993. I was interested in exploring intergenerational conflict and how parenting and allyship require really seeing someone else." Youn's character, initially skeptical of her grandson's fiancee, quickly sees through the charade but becomes the couple's most unexpected champion. When asked if she drew from any personal experience to portray this evolving relationship, Youn waves away the question with the detached ease of someone who's seen it all. "I've been doing this job too long to need inspiration from real life," she says matter-of-factly. "Next year marks my 60th year acting. At my age — I'll be 80 in Korean age next year — there's nothing I can't understand. The world keeps changing, and you have to accept it whether you understand it or not. That's the wisdom that comes with age. I could play a grandmother without much burden because I can put all my lived experience into the character." Han, born in 1998, represents a different generation entirely. Unlike Youn, he had never seen the original film before being cast. "I was born five years after it came out — maybe my parents saw it," he laughs. "I decided to wait until after filming to watch it so I could approach the character freshly." "You didn't need to see it," Youn interjects. Their generational gap seemed to spill into language as well. Unlike Youn, who speaks English with the cautious precision of someone still finding her footing (she lived in the US from 1975 to 1984), Han delivers it with remarkable fluency and confidence despite this being his first time shooting in America. "His English is unbelievable," Youn says. "This was his first time abroad, and he speaks perfectly! That's the power of Korean mothers. His mother only let him watch English TV growing up." Han says with a smile, "I thanked my mother before I left for the shoot. I grew up attending an English kindergarten in Seoul and watching Sesame Street and SpongeBob. Acting in English was always on my bucket list, and getting to do it with Youn in my first English-language project is just a huge honor." The pair developed a remarkable chemistry despite having never met before filming. Their first scene together — an emotionally charged confrontation — was scheduled for day one of production. "My son tried to get them to move it later in the schedule," Youn recalls. "But I'm a professional. Andrew must have had his reasons to shoot it first." Ahn speaks reverently of working with Youn, appreciating her decades of experience and insight. "I loved her honesty on set. After our first take together, I said, 'That was lovely, can we go again?' She replied, 'If it was really lovely, we wouldn't have to go again.' She followed up by saying, 'American directors are so nice. You don't have to be nice—just tell me what to do.'" That directness extended to the script itself. When the Korean dialogue felt too literally translated, Youn worked with Ahn to make it more authentic. One of the film's most memorable lines — when her character dismisses Angela, her grandson's "bride," as a "lesbian kkotbaem" (lesbian gold digger) — was her own invention. "That was my idea," Youn says. "Andrew and I collaborated on the Korean translations throughout the filming. When things felt too direct, they sounded strange. We agreed I could change lines to make them feel more natural." The film is set for release in Korea this fall, and everyone involved hopes it will spark meaningful conversations about acceptance. "My hope," Ahn says, "is that this film shows these characters with such humanity that audiences can't deny them. Even if someone doesn't understand or approve of homosexuality, they might respect these people's lives and recognize that they want a family just as deeply as anyone else." Han, who previously starred in the queer Korean drama "Where Your Eyes Linger," agrees. "Koreans tend to be conservative about these issues, but I hope people view this with an open mind as simply a story about love between people. This isn't just about being queer — it's about building family, and I hope people can see it from that broader perspective." When asked about her thoughts on the film's reception back home, Youn delivers the perfect deadpan closer: "I have no message to share. I'm not the Pope." moonkihoon@
South China Morning Post
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
The Wedding Banquet's Youn Yuh-jung on channelling her past to play gay man's grandmother
In Ang Lee's 1993 film The Wedding Banquet, a bisexual man tries to hide his boyfriend from his parents by marrying a Chinese immigrant who needs a green card. Advertisement In Andrew Ahn's new remake of the film, which opens in cinemas in the United States on April 18, the stakes have been doubled, with two gay couples whose differing needs and goals have led them to the brink of breaking up. That is before their families get involved. The last few years have been remarkable for Youn. In 2021, she won the best supporting actress Oscar for Korean-American family drama Minari , and she received much acclaim for her role in the 2022 miniseries Pachinko Advertisement In The Wedding Banquet she plays a grandmother from a notoriously private and conservative wealthy family.
