The Academy Award-nominated short film “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” was born out of the emotional juxtaposition of joy and silliness amid the backdrop of anti-Asian hate crimes.
First-generation Taiwanese American director Sean Wang, who had been living in New York City for over five years, decided it was time to return home in 2021 to the Bay Area where his grandmothers resided. At the time, his homecoming coincided with the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, especially in San Francisco, where 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee was shoved to the ground while he was out on a morning walk. The Thai immigrant’s eventual death helped galvanize what would be known as the Stop Asian Hate movement.
The surge in violence and racism against the Asian American community brought Wang to a headspace of anger, pain and worry for his grandparents.
“I had this thought that when I do eventually move out of the Bay Area, that could very likely be the last time I see my grandmas,” Wang tells NextShark. “And so it was all of those feelings kind of coming together and kind of becoming this. I just wanted to make something that captures their humanity, captures their spirits, captures the essence of who these two amazing people are in my life for myself or my family for future generations. And that was sort of the seed that became this movie.”
via Disney+
The 16-minute film became Wang’s personal love letter to his grandmothers on both of his parents’ side (“Nai Nai” and “Wai Po”), who are inseparable best friends and roommates in their 80s and 90s. The short, which features dialogue in both Mandarin and English, is a multigenerational story that captures the women’s daily lives through amusing and unexpected glimpses as they dance, cook, clean and even fart their sorrows away. Beyond the comedic aspects, the narrative evolves into a thoughtful contemplation on lives marked by a blend of joy and pain, while challenging the stereotype that growing older must…
