All screenings will be shown with English Subtitles (not HOH).

The screening on Sunday July 14 will be followed by a discussion between Jennifer Lim, Cici Peng and Hester Yang. 

The hilarious and heartbreaking, The Farewell is a modern classic that explores the joys and dysphoria of cultural tensions.

In this funny, uplifting tale based on an actual lie, Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi (Awkwafina) reluctantly returns to Changchun to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch, Nai-Nai, has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai Nai herself. To assure her happiness, they gather under the joyful guise of an expedited wedding, uniting family members scattered among new homes abroad. As Billi navigates a minefield of family expectations and proprieties, she finds there’s a lot to celebrate: a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother’s wondrous spirit, and the ties that keep on binding even when so much goes unspoken. With The Farewell, writer/director Lulu Wang has created a heartfelt celebration of both the way we perform family and the way we live it, masterfully interweaving a gently humorous depiction of the good lie in action with a richly moving story of how family can unite and strengthen us, often in spite of ourselves.

Jennifer Lim is an actor, theatre and filmmaker who also writes, directs and produces. Her acting work encompasses film, theatre, television, radio and audio work. Films include ‘A Monster Calls’, 'Hostel', 'When Evil Calls', 'Piercing Brightness’, ‘Leviathan’, ‘British People’ in Uncertain Kingdom. Moongate’s commissioned short films include ’Night Lives’ and ‘Dream of Emerald Hill’ which played in multiple international film festivals. She is artistic director and co-founder of Moongate - currently Company In Residence at Omnibus Theatre. She is one of the founding members of BEATS (British East and Southeast Asians in Theatre and on Screen) and part of the BEATS/BFI Summit.

Hester Yang, a London-based Chinese filmmaker and film programmer, focuses on alternative documentary storytelling. Collaborating with Chinese and East & Southeast Asian communities in the UK, her artistic and curatorial practice explores memory, historical erasure, migration, and complex diasporic experiences. Co-founding Sine Screen弦影像, an emerging screening collective, Hester aims to showcase independent cinema and moving image works from East and Southeast Asia, opening discussions on dominant representations of ESEA culture and history.

Cici Peng is a film journalist and film programmer based in London. She has written for British GQ, LWLies, Dazed & Confused, i-D, and led and edited an editorial project for gal-dem. She has programmed screenings and events at the BFI, ICA, and the Barbican among others.

The screening on Sunday 14 July, will be in partnership with Chinese Cinema Project.

Cast:
Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin