The place I am From: Now and Gen options in-conversation items between generations — like a youthful lady and her grandmother — discussing a subject like magnificence rituals, funds, or marriage. We sat down with filmmaker Sean Wang and his grandmothers, Yi Yan Fuei and Chang Li Hua, the topics of Wang’s Oscar-nominated documentary brief, “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó.” Learn their heartwarming chat about friendship under.
In 2021, within the wake of elevated anti-Asian violence and the continued pandemic, filmmaker Sean Wang moved again dwelling to San Francisco. There, he began observing — then filming — Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó, his 94-year-old paternal grandmother and 83-year-old maternal grandmother, respectively, who occur to be inseparable pals and roommates. As he captured the mundane moments and joys of their every day lives, he created “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” an Oscar-nominated documentary brief that not too long ago landed on Disney+.
“As a lot as this film is about my grandmothers and my relationship with them, it’s about friendship, sisterhood, and the bonds that you simply keep and water in previous age.”
The Taiwanese American director — whose debut characteristic movie, “Dìdi,” not too long ago premiered on the 2024 Sundance Movie Competition — basically filmed a collection of dwelling movies, which he changed into a ravishing 17-minute “private love letter” to his grandmothers. “As a lot as this film is about my grandmothers and my relationship with them, it’s about friendship, sisterhood, and the bonds that you simply keep and water in previous age,” he tells POPSUGAR. “I am not 86, 96 years previous. However I feel [their friendship] is an efficient north star — hopefully, the friendships I’ve now that I really feel are deeply particular in my life, those that I do know will final, that I hope might be Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó in our previous age, are nonetheless as foolish and vibrant and enjoyable.”
Forward of the 2024 Oscars, Wang and his grandmothers focus on their decades-long bond, the ability of friendship, and the life classes they’ve taught each other.
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On Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó’s Distinctive Friendship
Chang Li Hua (Wài Pó): Us having the ability to spend our days collectively and reside collectively can also be a kind of destiny and luck. Nǎi Nai is older than me by 10 years, so I’ve all the time seen her like my very own huge sister. I’m youthful than her by 10 years, so anytime I’m able to assist her and take care of her, I’ll do my finest to take action. We’ve virtually all the identical hobbies. Studying the newspaper, exercising within the yard, going out for walks. Day by day, we go to our orchard collectively to test and see which tree has grown fruits. Day by day, we eat fruits collectively, and we take the peels of vegetables and fruit to the yard and make fertilizer.
Yi Yan Fuei (Nǎi Nai): [Wài Pó and I] have the identical angle. We each love pals, we like to train, and we like to learn the information, so we’re capable of be collectively harmoniously, identical to sisters. Sean is aware of too. He turned shut with us, and I cherish the time we spent collectively every single day.
Sean Wang: They’re my grandmothers. And as their kind of mischievous, younger filmmaker grandson, I feel our relationship is one of such pleasure, silliness, and this childlike, youthful power. They point out it within the movie that I deliver it out of them, however in addition they deliver it out of me. I feel that ends in some enjoyable collaborations and these foolish movies that we make. Lots of these have been the seeds that turned one half of “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó.” The silliness, the chaotic pleasure, I wish to name it, that balances out of with the extra poignant, deeply human grounded pains of their lives.
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On What They Discovered About Every Different All through Filming
Sean Wang: I feel I knew all of the broad strokes of their lives, however getting to essentially speak to them about their childhoods and their lives earlier than they have been my grandmothers was actually enlightening. However reducing to current day — and perhaps I all the time knew this — I realized simply how a lot of these artistic spirits they’re.
A lot of this movie was only a strategy to give them a platform that I feel no one had ever actually thought of them for. They dance, play, and permit their silliness to take heart stage. And now that they’ll the Oscars and being enveloped on this world that’s full of spectacle and fancy clothes, they’re actually loving it and getting to precise a muscle that they so clearly have, that nobody has ever allowed them to flex.
Yi Yan Fuei (Nǎi Nai): Sean was very approachable with us previous individuals. He did not deal with us as previous individuals in any respect. He joked with us every single day. He did not even act like we have been dozens of years older than him. We have been very completely happy having enjoyable collectively.
Chang Li Hua (Wài Pó): I discovered that Sean was very proficient — he has a terrific imaginative and prescient. Additionally, he was very affected person with us after we have been filming the film. He would train us the best way to pose. He is a child who loves to show his pals. He is in a position to hang around with previous individuals, youngsters, or pals of the identical age. He is a younger man with a full of life character, but additionally works very laborious.
On the Life Classes They’ve Taught Every Different
“The times we spend feeling pleasure and the times we spend feeling ache are the identical days spent, so I am going to decide on pleasure.”
Sean Wang: There is a line within the film that Nǎi Nai says that has actually caught with me. She says, “The times we spend feeling pleasure and the times we spend feeling ache are the identical days spent, so I am going to decide on pleasure.” I feel that quite simple choice is a strong one: selecting pleasure. Particularly for somebody like her who’s within the twilight years of her life, figuring out that her days are extra restricted than mine. In our dumpster fireplace of a world at occasions, permitting your self to decide on pleasure and have a good time the individuals round you is a worthy choice.
Yi Yan Fuei (Nǎi Nai): This younger child can get alongside so effectively with others. He does not deal with us like previous individuals; he nonetheless shouts like us younger individuals in entrance of us every single day. When he is right here, we have now a really completely happy life. We ought to be like him, whether or not he is younger or previous. He’s our good friend.
Chang Li Hua (Wài Pó): He helped us be taught we’re not ineffective after we are previous. We are able to nonetheless be helpful individuals after we are previous. We are able to nonetheless dance, make motion pictures, and be actors. Previous individuals shouldn’t underestimate themselves. The aged are additionally succesful of doing so many issues.
This interview has been translated, edited, and condensed for readability.
Yerin Kim is the options editor at POPSUGAR, the place she helps form the imaginative and prescient for particular options and packages throughout the community. A graduate of Syracuse College’s Newhouse Faculty, she has over 5 years of expertise within the popular culture and ladies’s life-style areas. She’s captivated with spreading cultural sensitivity via the lenses of life-style, leisure, and elegance.