Special Presentation: Expats
Preview with Lulu Wang

Expats

Narrative | Directed by Lulu Wang

90 MIN | English

(Episode 105)

Expats is a six-part limited Amazon series based on the internationally best-selling novel, The Expatriates, by Janice Y. K. Lee. Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, the series centers on three American women —Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) — whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy. CENTRAL, the feature-length penultimate episode of limited series Expats, shifts the narrative away from the entangled lives of expats to spend one fateful Sunday with two Filipina domestic workers and a disparate ensemble of Hong Kong locals as a massive typhoon descends upon the city and the 2014 political movement reaches a point of no return.

Director bio:
Lulu Wang

Lulu Wang’s 2019 sophomore feature, The Farewell, which she wrote and directed, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. Wang went on to amass critical acclaim and awards for the A24 box office hit. The film won Best Feature at the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards and received many accolades and nominations, including AFI’s Top Ten Films of 2019, a Golden Globe Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language nomination, as well as Best Feature and Best Screenplay nods from the Gotham Independent Film Awards. In addition, The Farewell’s lead actress Awkwafina received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, while Zhao Shuzhen received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards.

Wang’s production company, Local Time, has several features, television series, and podcasts in development, including the feature project, Children Of The New World, with FilmNation, based on Alexander Weinstein’s short story of the same name, and a US film adaptation of Hirokazu Koreeda’s Like Father Like Son with Focus Features.