Within the span of five days in January, Sean Wang's life changed about as dramatically as is possible for a young filmmaker.
On Jan. 19, Wang's "Nai Nai Waċi Po," a documentary short about his two grandmothers, was nominated for an Academy Award. On Jan. 23rd, his feature film debut, "Didi," a coming-of-age tale drawn from Wang's life growing up as the son of Taiwanese immigrants in Fremont, California, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
"Didi" was immediately hailed as the exciting debut of a new filmmaking voice. The film, a comic and sensitive tale about awkwardly finding yourself in the early digital days of MySpace and AOL-messenger, went on to win an audience award and a prize for its ensemble cast at Sundance. In "Didi," a portrait of an artist as a young skater kid, Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) hesitantly becomes a "filmer" of his friends' skating tricks, a path that mirrors Wang's own first steps behind the camera.
In one scene, someone jokes that Chris, nicknamed "Wang Wang," will later thank them in his Oscar speech - a prophecy that very nearly came true before "Didi" even opened in theaters. "Nai Nai & Waċi Po" ultimately didn't win at the Oscars, though Wang's grandmothers did earn "best dressed" from GQ.
"I'm sure people who saw the movie pre-Oscars and after Sundance were like 'Oh my god,'" Wang says. "Now they're like, 'Well, it didn't happen. Better luck next time, Wang Wang.'"
