
Filmmaker and ż alumna Lulu Wang will discuss her 2019 hit film “The Farewell” with ż Professor of English Tina Klein at a webinar on March 25 at 7 p.m.
Starring Awkwafina as a struggling writer in New York and based on a “true lie” from Wang’s life, the film tells the story of a Chinese-American family that, upon learning their grandmother has cancer, decides not to tell her and instead stages a mock-wedding to bring the family together before she dies.
Born in Beijing, Wang was six when her parents immigrated to the U.S., settling in Miami.

Lulu Wang (Evan Mitsui/Cż)
At ż, she majored in literature and music in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, but planned to become a lawyer. “My parents never shed light on the possibility of me being a filmmaker,” she told ż Magazine in a recent interview. “There’s no one that looks like me out there doing it in this country. I think that was the reason.”
Her new career journey began during her senior year at ż, when she enrolled in photography and film classes, shooting footage and editing during all-nighters with friends in the basement of Devlin Hall.
“We would be down there editing, finding music—it was just a thrilling time,” she said. “It was a thrilling way to discover my passion.”
Read more about Wang and "The Farewell" in ż Magazine.
The webinar is sponsored by the Institute for the Liberal Arts, American Studies, Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, and the Literature Core. .
University Communications | March 2021