Dìdi (弟弟)
August 8 - September 19, 2024
Oscar® nominee Sean Wang (Nai Nai & Wài Pó, SIFF 2023 Grand Jury Prize Winner) won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance for this joyous tale about a skate video-loving NorCal Taiwanese American circa 2008 who spends his final pre-high school summer learning what it means to grow up.
“[E]asily one of the best, most seamless films I’ve seen on the experience of growing up online.”—Adrian Horton, The Guardian
Transport yourself back in time; all the way back to the summer of 2008. When YouTube was in its infancy and MySpace and AIM reigned supreme. Dìdi (弟弟), the charming debut feature from 2024 Oscar® nominee Sean Wang (Nai Nai & Wài Pó, SIFF 2023 Grand Jury Award Winner for Best Documentary Short), follows a skate video-loving Bay Area Taiwanese American thirteen-year-old kid spending his last summer before high school encountering all the classic misadventures of growing up. First kisses, finding the correct angle to point the camera, learning to appreciate your mom (Joan Chen, “Twin Peaks”) for all she is and all she does…all the important lessons. Wang playfully intertwines elements of his own upbringing in Fremont, CA as a first-generation immigrant kid, and the inclusion of his maternal grandmother Chang Li Hua (featured in Nai Nai & Wài Pó) aptly cast as Chris’ grandmother serves as a reminder of the deeply personal approach Wang takes to filmmaking as he blurs the line between reality and fiction. Within all these hyper-specific details emerges a painfully sweet portrait of the halcyon days of summer experienced only by the young.
- Original Language Title: Dìdi (弟弟)
- Director: Sean Wang
- Principal Cast: Izaac Wang, Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, Chang Li Hua
- Country: USA
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 96 min.
- Producer: Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters, Valerie Bush, and Sean Wang
- Screenplay: Sean Wang
- Cinematographers: Sam Davis
- Editors: Arielle Zakowski
- Music: Giosuè Greco
- Website: Official Film Website
- Awards: Sundance Film Festival 2024 (Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble)
- Filmography: Debut Feature Film
- Language: English, Taiwanese
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- US Distributor: Focus Features
- International Sales: Focus Features