Latest news with #crosscultural
Washington Post
3 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
An interfaith group's 1950s MLK comic book remains a prominent nonviolence teaching tool
(RNS) — At cross-cultural gatherings in Bethlehem, West Bank, groups of children and adults turn to a 67-year-old, colorful comic book with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s image on its cover, his tie and shirt collar visible beneath his clerical robe. As they read from 'Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story,' the group leader is prepared to discuss questions about achieving peace through nonviolent behavior.
Travel Daily News
27-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
Nathalie Leduc joins VERTU Hotels and Resorts
Nathalie Leduc joins VERTU Hotels and Resorts as Business Development Consultant for Asia, bringing cross-cultural expertise and luxury hospitality experience. Nathalie Leduc is a hospitality and cross-cultural relations expert with a versatile background in international innovation, institutional partnerships, and luxury hospitality. She brings to VERTU Hotels and Resorts a unique combination of heartfelt cultural insight and a grounded understanding of what makes an exceptional guest experience. Earlier in her career, Nathalie contributed to guest satisfaction at renowned hotel brands such as Hilton, Marriott, and Millennium Hotels. Her deep-rooted appreciation for high-touch service and guest-centric hospitality was born in these formative years. In her most recent roles, Nathalie worked within the field of innovation, where she played a key role in forging connections between institutions, governments, and international partners. Her experience welcoming foreign delegations and building relationships across cultural lines has prepared her to represent VERTU Hotels and Resorts across Asia's rich and diverse hospitality landscape. Nathalie is fluent in French and English, and is expanding her command of various Asian languages to better understand the local contexts she works in. She approaches every opportunity with humility, curiosity, and a sincere belief that listening is the foundation of any successful partnership. VERTU Hospitality, Hotels and Resorts Founder and CEO, Gérald Lampaert, states: 'It is a great pleasure to welcome Nathalie to our growing team. Her thoughtful, human-first approach to business and her deep appreciation for authentic hospitality are perfectly aligned with the VERTU Hospitality spirit. With her background in international relations and her experience in both corporate innovation and hotel operations, she is uniquely positioned to support our expansion in Asia. Nathalie brings a rare combination of emotional intelligence, strategic insight, and local sensitivity that will be invaluable as we continue to grow our collection of affiliated boutique hotels in some of the region's most exciting destinations.' Nathalie Leduc adds: 'I'm truly honored to join VERTU Hotels and Resorts as Business Development Consultant for Asia. I've known Gérald Lampaert for over 20 years, and I've always admired his visionary approach to hospitality. VERTU Hotels and Resorts' exceptional commitment to celebrating local culture while delivering luxury without compromise is deeply aligned with my own values. I look forward to building meaningful partnerships that reflect the soul of each destination we enter.'
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.
