“Is this an American film or is this a Chinese film?” that was the first question people would ask when I first started pitching the movie. It’s a trick a question, right? Because if I said it’s an American film, but also saying I wanted it to be subtitled, people would say, “Well then, it’s not American”. But then if I told Chinese investors it’s a Chinese film, they would say, “Well then it can’t be told from Billi’s perspective, because her perspective is too Westernized and a Chinese audience is not going to resonate with her.” It felt in a way very confrontational because it’s like asking me “Are you American or are you Chinese?” [..] Culturally I’m American, my perspectives are American, but from an aesthetic perspective: do other people look at me and think that I’m American? There was all of that and so I knew that I had to tell this movie from exactly where I stand — which is in the middle. – Lulu Wang
TIME MAGAZINE HAS NAMED BEYONCÉ AS ONE OF THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN OF THE PAST CENTURY
“When Beyoncé Knowles-Carter debuted as a member of Destiny’s Child in the ‘90s, no one could foresee that she would one day be the self-proclaimed “King Bey,” as big as Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, or Prince. By the time she released her first solo album in 2003, her star power was clear, but in the music industry, shooting stars often fizzle. Beyoncé treated each album like an opportunity to build. Her work ethic is rivaled only by her supreme ability to keep us out of her business. When she dropped her eponymous fifth album near midnight in December 2013, with no indication that was coming, her legend status was clear. Beyoncé was a visual album with sick beats and her signature girl-power anthems. But with “Flawless,” she went a step further, sampling a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speech and explicitly claiming feminism for herself. Could a pop star really be down with smashing the patriarchy? Her performance in front of the word FEMINIST at the 2014 MTV Music Awards was a helluva way to punctuate a point.
“A few years later, her explosive “Formation” let us know she was back, pro-black, and unapologetic. The Lemonade album’s overtures to Black Lives Matter insisted that she may be pop, but she also is political. It was a hat tip to her haters and a nod to her serious critics. She’s a woman of few words, but she’s listening. It’s this call-and-response between Beyoncé, the Bey-hivers and the Bey-haters that makes her a singular performer. Haters may hate, but she just gets better.”