For generations of American elites, attending boarding school has been a familiar rite of passage, but for two immigrant high school students from Mainland China, it’s an entirely new and unfamiliar experience. Miao Wang’s follow-up to her 2010 SXSW feature documentary Beijing Taxi again considers the country’s changing socioeconomic landscape, but the constrained focus on the experiences of two young people sheds limited light on these rapidly advancing developments, suggesting that small-screen exposure may be most appropriate.
As Us boarding school enrollments began falling off in the 1990s, Maine’s private Freyburg Academy, located an hour outside Portland, turned to Asia...
As Us boarding school enrollments began falling off in the 1990s, Maine’s private Freyburg Academy, located an hour outside Portland, turned to Asia...
- 3/11/2017
- by Justin Lowe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Filmmaker Miao Wang (Beijing Taxi) partnered with the Microsoft Design team, by way of Cinelan, to create an upcoming video on the practice of inclusive design, which aims to resituate our conception of disability by creating products accessible to the widest audience possible. Filmmaker spoke with Microsoft Design’s Margaret Price about the collaboration and why she’s chosen the medium of film to spread awareness of the role of inclusive design. As Price notes, the desire to simultaneously create for a personal and universal consumer is applicable beyond just the field of engineering, and relatable to filmmaking as well. In August, Filmmaker will run […]...
- 5/26/2015
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Filmmaker Miao Wang (Beijing Taxi) partnered with the Microsoft Design team, by way of Cinelan, to create an upcoming video on the practice of inclusive design, which aims to resituate our conception of disability by creating products accessible to the widest audience possible. Filmmaker spoke with Microsoft Design’s Margaret Price about the collaboration and why she’s chosen the medium of film to spread awareness of the role of inclusive design. As Price notes, the desire to simultaneously create for a personal and universal consumer is applicable beyond just the field of engineering, and relatable to filmmaking as well. In August, Filmmaker will run […]...
- 5/26/2015
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
[Thanks to our friend Josh Hurtado for providing an advance look at the schedule.]
It is July. For me this means gearing up for my annual marathon movie event, the Asian Film Festival of Dallas. The organizers have been tossing hints at titles out via facebook and Twitter, but yesterday they finally let the cats out of the bag.
This year Affd is screening 30+ features as well as their usual shorts programs. I'm pretty sure this may be their biggest festival ever in terms of variety. The schedule looks great, with some really awesome titles and some surprises (which are almost always my favorite part!). Affd has a newly redesigned website that makes it easy to explore the titles, watch trailers, make your own schedule, and learn about the events. Facebook friends and Twitter followers are always the first to know about cool events and news, so be sure to check them out there as well as the official site for all the latest!
It is July. For me this means gearing up for my annual marathon movie event, the Asian Film Festival of Dallas. The organizers have been tossing hints at titles out via facebook and Twitter, but yesterday they finally let the cats out of the bag.
This year Affd is screening 30+ features as well as their usual shorts programs. I'm pretty sure this may be their biggest festival ever in terms of variety. The schedule looks great, with some really awesome titles and some surprises (which are almost always my favorite part!). Affd has a newly redesigned website that makes it easy to explore the titles, watch trailers, make your own schedule, and learn about the events. Facebook friends and Twitter followers are always the first to know about cool events and news, so be sure to check them out there as well as the official site for all the latest!
- 7/8/2010
- Screen Anarchy
SXSW Review
Beijing Taxi
Director: Miao Wang
World Premiere
Documentary Competition
78 minutes
Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010
Synopsis
Beijing Taxi is a feature length documentary that vividly portrays Beijing undergoing a profound transformational arch. Through a humanistic lens, the intimate lives of three taxi drivers connect a morphing city confronted with modern issues and changing values. With diverse imagery combined with a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, we experience a visceral sense of the common citizens’ persistent attempts to grasp the elusive. Candid and perceptive in its filming approach and highly cinematic in style, Beijing Taxi takes us on a lyrical journey into fragments of a society riding the bumpy roads to modernization. Though the destination is unknown, they continue to forge ahead.
Director Bio
Beijing native Miao Wang has a B.A. in economics from the Univ of Chicago and a M.F.A. in design/film from Parsons. Her...
Beijing Taxi
Director: Miao Wang
World Premiere
Documentary Competition
78 minutes
Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010
Synopsis
Beijing Taxi is a feature length documentary that vividly portrays Beijing undergoing a profound transformational arch. Through a humanistic lens, the intimate lives of three taxi drivers connect a morphing city confronted with modern issues and changing values. With diverse imagery combined with a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, we experience a visceral sense of the common citizens’ persistent attempts to grasp the elusive. Candid and perceptive in its filming approach and highly cinematic in style, Beijing Taxi takes us on a lyrical journey into fragments of a society riding the bumpy roads to modernization. Though the destination is unknown, they continue to forge ahead.
Director Bio
Beijing native Miao Wang has a B.A. in economics from the Univ of Chicago and a M.F.A. in design/film from Parsons. Her...
- 3/31/2010
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
Non-fiction filmmaker Miao Wang was fortunate enough to be at a critical place during a critical moment. She was in Beijing in the months leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics, and her feature documentary Beijing Taxi looks at the massive transitions the city goes through, as well as the major implications of the event on a global scale, from the perspective of the city’s taxi drivers.
- 3/28/2010
- by Landon Palmer
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
SXSW 2010 – Day Four
Hurry up and wait … for MacGruber starring Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer and Ryan Phillippe.
Today was the random one you get at every festival. You just don’t know what you’re going to see. Some early screenings on Friday suddenly left me with only one thought – get MacGruber.
Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010
I went to the Fast Pass express lane at 8:45 a.m. to wait in line, so I could then wait in a shorter line. It opened at 10 and I was able to get my pass no problem.
Then it was off to see Audrey the Trainwreck.
Synopsis
For Ron Hogan, life is fine… not great, not good, just… fine, and on the verge of retiring any sort of dream heÕs harbored of a life less ordinary. Pushing thirty and working a thankless office job, internet dating is one more routine in Ron Hogan’s well-ordered life.
Hurry up and wait … for MacGruber starring Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer and Ryan Phillippe.
Today was the random one you get at every festival. You just don’t know what you’re going to see. Some early screenings on Friday suddenly left me with only one thought – get MacGruber.
Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010
I went to the Fast Pass express lane at 8:45 a.m. to wait in line, so I could then wait in a shorter line. It opened at 10 and I was able to get my pass no problem.
Then it was off to see Audrey the Trainwreck.
Synopsis
For Ron Hogan, life is fine… not great, not good, just… fine, and on the verge of retiring any sort of dream heÕs harbored of a life less ordinary. Pushing thirty and working a thankless office job, internet dating is one more routine in Ron Hogan’s well-ordered life.
- 3/18/2010
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
Director Miao Wang's "Beijing Taxi" is a feature length documentary that "vividly portrays Beijing undergoing a profound transformational arch. Through a humanistic lens, the intimate lives of three taxi drivers connect a morphing city confronted with modern issues and changing values. With diverse imagery combined with a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, we experience a visceral sense of the common citizensÕ persistent attempts to grasp the elusive. Candid and perceptive in ...
- 3/12/2010
- indieWIRE - People
Director Miao Wang's "Beijing Taxi" is a feature length documentary that "vividly portrays Beijing undergoing a profound transformational arch. Through a humanistic lens, the intimate lives of three taxi drivers connect a morphing city confronted with modern issues and changing values. With diverse imagery combined with a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, we experience a visceral sense of the common citizensÕ persistent attempts to grasp the elusive. Candid and perceptive in ...
- 3/12/2010
- Indiewire
Director Miao Wang's "Beijing Taxi" is a feature length documentary that "vividly portrays Beijing undergoing a profound transformational arch. Through a humanistic lens, the intimate lives of three taxi drivers connect a morphing city confronted with modern issues and changing values. With diverse imagery combined with a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, we experience a visceral sense of the common citizensÕ persistent attempts to grasp the elusive. Candid and perceptive in ...
- 3/12/2010
- indieWIRE - People
Director: Miao Wang Beijing Taxi commences two years prior to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The old city and Socialist lifestyle of Beijing has all but disappeared; a new city of skyscrapers, pillars of Capitalism, is quickly rising from the rubble. As Bai Jiwen, a 54-year old Beijing taxi driver, studiously observes: “The pace of change has sped up, taking bigger strides. To welcome the Olympics! The whole country is supporting Beijing. Faster construction; faster environmental changes.” Bai is one of three primary subjects whom writer-director Miao Wang follows in order to chronicle the effects that the 2008 Olympic Games (and Capitalism) have on working class Beijingers; the other two subjects – Zhou Yi and Wei Caixia – are also taxi drivers. The three characters are perfect examples of how education (or lack there of) can determine a person’s fate especially in a Capitalist economy. Bai is counting down the years to his...
- 3/10/2010
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Filmmaker Miao Wang, a Beijing native now based in Brooklyn, is currently racing to finish her feature doc Beijing Taxi in time for SXSW, where it's scheduled to world premiere. She needs to raise $11,000 to cover post-production expenses and is just under half way there with five days left to go at Kickstarter. From the Kickstarter page: Beijing Taxi is a feature length documentary that vividly portrays Beijing undergoing a profound transformational arch. Through a humanistic lens, the intimate lives of three taxi drivers connect a morphing city confronted with modern issues and changing values. With diverse imagery combined with a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, we experience a visceral sense of the common citizen's persistent...
- 2/9/2010
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The SXSW Film Festival will be held March 12-20 in Austin, Texas. Beijing Taxi Director: Miao Wang Through a humanistic lens, Beijing Taxi vividly portrays China undergoing a profound transformational arch in an era of Olympic transitions. The intimate lives of three cabbies connect a morphing cityscape and a lyrical journey through fragments of a society riding the bumpy roads to modernization. (World Premiere) Camp Victory, Afghanistan Director: Carol Dysinger Using almost 300 hours of footage shot over the course of three years, Camp Victory, Afghanistan tells the story of the Afghan officers charged with building a new [...]...
- 2/5/2010
- by Arthur Leander
- Alt Film Guide
The South by Southwest Film Festival announced its 2010 feature line-up Wednesday night, and I couldn’t be more excited. The nine day event starts March 12, 2010 here in Austin, Texas, and I’ll be covering as much as I can from start to finish. Though, if it’s anything like last year, I’ll be asleep on my feet by the end of it.
The 2010 list includes 119 films (55 world premieres), but here are a few notables: The previously announced Kick-Ass will start the festivities. Elektra Luxx, the sequel to the underseen comedy Women in Trouble, starring Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and too many more to name. Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass in which Edward Norton plays identical twins. A documentary titled People vs. George Lucas that I will be seeing. Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs. Plus the “SNL” spin-off movie MacGruber in its world premiere, possibly before the MacGyver creator shuts it down.
The 2010 list includes 119 films (55 world premieres), but here are a few notables: The previously announced Kick-Ass will start the festivities. Elektra Luxx, the sequel to the underseen comedy Women in Trouble, starring Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and too many more to name. Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass in which Edward Norton plays identical twins. A documentary titled People vs. George Lucas that I will be seeing. Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs. Plus the “SNL” spin-off movie MacGruber in its world premiere, possibly before the MacGyver creator shuts it down.
- 2/4/2010
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
Less than a week worth of recovering from the Sundance Film Festival, and we are already looking forward to our next, big film fest coverage. That would be the South by Southwest Film Festival held annually in Austin, Texas. Last year, Scott and I brought you all kinds of coverage from the Lone Star State, and this year doesn’t look to be much different.
With that, the announcement came last night of the feature films that will be playing at the SXSW Film Festival. Previous announcement were already made about films like Cold Weather, Electra Luxx, Hubble 3D, Lemmy, Saturday Night, and The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights making their debut. Kick-ass was recently announced as the opening night film, as well.
Among the other films being presented this year are some Sundance darlings, a few, highly anticipated premieres, and MacGruber.
Check out the full list...
With that, the announcement came last night of the feature films that will be playing at the SXSW Film Festival. Previous announcement were already made about films like Cold Weather, Electra Luxx, Hubble 3D, Lemmy, Saturday Night, and The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights making their debut. Kick-ass was recently announced as the opening night film, as well.
Among the other films being presented this year are some Sundance darlings, a few, highly anticipated premieres, and MacGruber.
Check out the full list...
- 2/4/2010
- by Kirk
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Late yesterday the SXSW Fim Festival, which runs from March 12-20 in Austin, TX, announced the full lineup of films that will be screening at this year’s event. And baby, it’s quite a list. Mixing big name films with intimate indie gems, the sheer number of films and the vast array of talented filmmakers is sure to be a hit with attendees and critics alike.
This lineup includes premieres of studio films such as Universal’s MacGruber, Lionsgate’s teen superhero actioneer Kick-Ass and smaller films like Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, Michel Gondry’s The Thorn in the Heart and Steven Soderbergh’s And Everything Is Going Fine. With so many films to watch, it will be very difficult to find time to seem them all during the events nine days. But hell, we’re going to try.
For more on...
This lineup includes premieres of studio films such as Universal’s MacGruber, Lionsgate’s teen superhero actioneer Kick-Ass and smaller films like Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, Michel Gondry’s The Thorn in the Heart and Steven Soderbergh’s And Everything Is Going Fine. With so many films to watch, it will be very difficult to find time to seem them all during the events nine days. But hell, we’re going to try.
For more on...
- 2/4/2010
- by Chris Ullrich
- The Flickcast
The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival unveiled its feature film program Wednesday night, highlighted by the world premieres of action spoof "MacGruber" and "Mr. Nice," a real-life tale of an infamous British drug smuggler starring Rhys Ifans.
Features from the Duplass brothers ("Cyrus"), Steven Soderbergh ("And Everything Is Going Fine"), Michel Gondry ("The Thorn in the Heart") and Tim Blake Nelson ("Leaves of Grass") also have spots on the program.
The March 12-20 festival will showcase 119 features and 55 world premieres, including pervasively announced opening-night film "Kick-Ass." Selections were chosen from 1,572 submissions (1,206 U.S., 366 international).
"We want discovery," said conference and fest producer Janet Pierson, now in her second year. "We want a real range of films across the board."
Eight narrative and eight documentary features comprise the main competition categories.
The narrative selections are "Brotherhood," directed by Will Canon; "Dance With the One" (Mike Dolan); "Earthling" (Clay Liford...
Features from the Duplass brothers ("Cyrus"), Steven Soderbergh ("And Everything Is Going Fine"), Michel Gondry ("The Thorn in the Heart") and Tim Blake Nelson ("Leaves of Grass") also have spots on the program.
The March 12-20 festival will showcase 119 features and 55 world premieres, including pervasively announced opening-night film "Kick-Ass." Selections were chosen from 1,572 submissions (1,206 U.S., 366 international).
"We want discovery," said conference and fest producer Janet Pierson, now in her second year. "We want a real range of films across the board."
Eight narrative and eight documentary features comprise the main competition categories.
The narrative selections are "Brotherhood," directed by Will Canon; "Dance With the One" (Mike Dolan); "Earthling" (Clay Liford...
- 2/4/2010
- by By Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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