Past Lives and Present Screens: The Movies That Made Asian America

Join Asia Society for a very special event that will also serve as the New York launch celebration for New York Times bestselling author Jeff Yang’s new book The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America. This candid conversation with Celine Song, director and writer of A24’s Past Lives, one of the most critically lauded films of 2023, will explore the film’s unique focus on the “1.5 generation” of Asian immigrants; the process of forgetting and rediscovery that shapes diasporic identity; and how cinematic images, as seen through Asian, Hollywood, and independent lenses, have influenced the way Asians are viewed and view ourselves in American culture. A book signing will follow the conversation. With its mix of historical perspective and present-day relevance, this program is a must-attend for anyone interested in cinema or Asian American culture.

Speakers
Celine Song, director of A24’s acclaimed Past Lives, emigrated from Korea at age 12 and now lives in New York City. As a playwright, her work includes Endlings, which had an Off-Broadway run in 2020, and a production of Chekhov’s The Seagull that she directed using The Sims 4. She is married to writer Justin Kuritzkes; a handful of years back, she found herself at a bar with her husband and a childhood crush visiting from Seoul – an event that inspired the story behind Past Lives. She was a Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, a two-time Great Plains Theatre Conference Playwright, and has been awarded residencies, fellowships, and commissions from MTC/Sloan, Sundance, the Millay Colony for the arts, MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Edward F. Albee Foundation.

Jeff Yang is a veteran cultural critic, regular CNN contributor, and former columnist for the Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, and Wall Street Journal. His books include I Am Jackie Chan, the action icon’s autobiography; Once Upon in Time in China, a history of the cinemas of Greater China; and, most recently, the New York Times bestseller RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now (HarperCollins), with Philip Wang and Phil Yu, and now The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America (Hachette). A native of New York, he currently lives in Los Angeles.