Courtesy of Big Beach/ Sundance Film Institute
The 2019 Sundance Film Festival: London festival came to a close in the capital last night where The Farewell took the prestigious audience award. The film, directed by Lulu Wang, features a cast that includes the likes of Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong, and Jiang Yongbo.
The film revolves around a headstrong Chinese-American woman who returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family’s decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.
Related: Bart Freundlich on Sundance drama After The Wedding
The Farewell will now be screened to the public at Picturehouse Central in London’s Piccadilly next weekend.
The Sundance Film Festival: London took place from 30 May – 2 June at Picturehouse Central, presenting 12 feature films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A, alongside two short film programmes and four special events. The festival opened with the UK gala of Late Night (dir. Nisha Ganatra), written by and starring Mindy Kaling alongside Emma Thompson. The festival closed on Sunday 2 June with the UK premiere of Penny Lane’s Hail Satan?.
Over 40 filmmakers and actors attended the festival to introduce their films and participate in audience Q&As, including Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat for Time Out Gala film Animals; Sam Claflin for Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale; and the cast of Shola Amoo’s The Last Tree.
