Wayne Wang in Person

March 11–April 17, 2022

From defining Asian American identity on-screen in Chan Is Missing and The Joy Luck Club to adapting the writing of Paul Auster and working with Jennifer Lopez, Wayne Wang is a filmmaking original. This series features new restorations of his work.

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  • Life Is Cheap . . . But Toilet Paper Is Expensive

  • Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart

  • The Joy Luck Club

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • Maid in Manhattan

    • Sunday, April 17 4 PM
    Wayne Wang
    United States, 2002

    Wang demonstrated his wide range of filmmaking influences in this contemporary interpretation of classic 1930s Hollywood romantic comedies, with JLo herself starring as a single mom working as a hotel maid and Ralph Fiennes as a most unlikely Prince Charming.

    Wayne Wang in Person

  • The Joy Luck Club

    • Saturday, April 16 3:30 PM
    Wayne Wang
    United States, 1993

    The Joy Luck Club also screened on Sunday, March 13 with Wayne Wang, Amy Tan, and Catherine Ceniza Choy in conversation.

    Four Chinese American women and their immigrant mothers learn one another’s stories in this intimate adaptation of the famed Amy Tan novel. A landmark in Asian American cinema, “both sweeping and intimate” (New York Times).

  • Blue in the Face

    • Saturday, April 9 7 PM
    Wayne Wang, Paul Auster
    United States, 1995

    An all-star cast—Jim Jarmusch, Lou Reed, Giancarlo Esposito, Harvey Keitel, Madonna (!)—improvise their way in and around a Brooklyn cigar store in Wang and Auster’s off-the-cuff, playful ode to the outer boroughs.

    Wayne Wang in Person

  • Chinese Box

    • Saturday, April 2 7 PM
    Wayne Wang
    United States, 1997

    Director’s Cut

    Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, and Maggie Cheung star in another of Wang’s love letters to Hong Kong, this one made all the more memorable and melancholy by its setting and timeline: 1997, at the end of British rule.

    Wayne Wang and Oliver S. Wang in Conversation

  • Chan Is Missing

    • Wednesday, March 30 7 PM
    Wayne Wang
    United States, 1982

    Chan Is Missing also screened on Friday, March 11 with Wayne Wang and Oliver S. Wang in conversation.

    Touted as the first all Chinese American feature film, Wang’s irreverent, refreshingly authentic movie follows two cab drivers searching San Francisco’s Chinatown for an elusive flimflam man. “A small, whimsical treasure of a film” (Roger Ebert).

  • Life Is Cheap . . . But Toilet Paper Is Expensive

    • Saturday, March 26 7 PM
    Wayne Wang
    United States, 1989

    The spirit of independence that runs through Wang’s films finds its most audacious expression in this tale of an urban cowboy tasked with delivering a briefcase to a mob boss, which was shot on location in Hong Kong.

    Wayne Wang, Spencer Nakasako, and Antonella Bonfanti in Conversation

  • Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart

    • Sunday, March 20 4 PM
    Wayne Wang
    United States, 1985

    Director’s Cut

    An elderly Chinese American widow in San Francisco tries to get her adult daughter married off in Wang’s simultaneously gentle and rowdy tribute to Yasujirō Ozu, Chinatown, and Wang’s Asian American heroines. With Laureen Chew, Victor Wong, Joan Chen, Amy Hill.

    Wayne Wang and Laureen Chew in Conversation

  • The Joy Luck Club

    • Sunday, March 13 4 PM
    Wayne Wang
    United States, 1993

    The Joy Luck Club also screens without in-person guests on Saturday, April 16.

    Four Chinese American women and their immigrant mothers learn one another’s stories in this intimate adaptation of the famed Amy Tan novel. A landmark in Asian American cinema, “both sweeping and intimate” (New York Times).

    Wayne Wang, Amy Tan, and Catherine Ceniza Choy in Conversation

  • Chan Is Missing

    • Friday, March 11 7 PM
    Wayne Wang
    United States, 1982

    Chan Is Missing also screens without in-person guests on Wednesday, March 30.

    Touted as the first all Chinese American feature film, Wang’s irreverent, refreshingly authentic movie follows two cab drivers searching San Francisco’s Chinatown for an elusive flimflam man. “A small, whimsical treasure of a film” (Roger Ebert).

    Wayne Wang and Oliver S. Wang in Conversation