The Brief

In early 2021, as COVID-19 cases surged, filmmaker Sean Wang moved back to his childhood home in Fremont to live with his parents and his maternal and paternal grandmothers.

What was supposed to be a pitstop between New York to L.A. stretched to a nearly year-long stay during which Wang fell into a charmed daily existence with his doting grandmothers, who'd dance and joke with him and "we'd all kind of light up with a smile."

Outside, the world was in upheaval. Hospitalizations were soaring, and his grandmothers stayed home, not only to steer clear of the virus but a parallel rise in anti-Asian violence that was raining down on the most vulnerable.

"I was reading in the headlines about people like them being attacked," Wang, 29, said. "That was kind of the catalyst for 'Let's make something that can be an antidote to all of the anger that I'm seeing and feeling and really capture what I see in my grandmothers who are so full of life and humanity, and compassion.'"

With a rented camera and a small crew of friends, Wang made a short film with a "home video ethos" about his grandmothers that chronicled their decades-long friendship, their similar paths from hardscrabble childhoods in Taiwan to happier lives in the U.S. surrounded by family.

It became "Nai Nai & Wài Pó" and three years later, the film is up for a Best Documentary Short trophy.

On Sunday, his 86-year-old maternal grandmother Chang Li Hua — wài pó, in Mandarin — and 96-year-old paternal grandmother Yi Yan Fuei — his nǎi nai — will accompany him to the Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

"If none of this happened, it would be OK," said Wang, a USC film school graduate now living in Silver Lake. "We had this film for me and my family. And so to be nominated for an Oscar it still doesn't really feel quite real."

History in the making

Nai Nai & Wài Pó helped break a new Oscar record. Three out of the five nominees for Best Documentary Short this year were directed by Asian Americans: Aside from Wang, S. Leo Chiang helmed Island in Between while Christine Turner co-directed The Barber of Little Rock.

In the Best Documentary Feature category, Canadian director Nisha Pahuja was nominated for To Kill A Tiger.

The preponderance of Asian documentary makers nominated for Oscars this year doesn't come as a surprise to Brian Hu, the artistic director of the San Diego Asian Film Festival and a film professor at San Diego State University.

Hu said Asian American talent has been steadily fostered and promoted since the 1980s, after public broadcasting officials acknowledged the lack of multicultural stories being told by filmmakers of color. A network of media groups were formed including what is known today as the Center for Asian American Media, which finances and showcases Asian American-led projects.

Hu, who co-hosts a podcast about Asian American cinema called Saturday School, said more diversity in documentaries is still needed. But the intentional development of Asian American filmmakers could partly explain why they're better represented in non-fiction than in narrative features made by Hollywood studios.

"A lot of people who are working in the documentary worlds are invested in issues of social justice and what it means to be American whereas perhaps in the more entertainment-like realm of fiction filmmaking, that's less on their minds."

Every so often, an Asian-helmed and -starring narrative feature like Everything Everywhere All At Once and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon do make a big splash and sweep major categories at awards ceremonies. Hu said "you get a feeling like, 'Oh, we've arrived.'"

"But really what happened is one film arrived," Hu said.

This year, happily for fans of Past Lives, the film about a bittersweet reunion between two childhood friends from Korea received a Best Picture nomination while director-screenwriter Celine Song was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Greta Lee's acclaimed lead performance and Song's debut as a film director, however, were passed over by Academy members.

What's next

Wang is the rare director who straddles both the fiction and non-fiction worlds. While he's been promoting Nai Nai & Wài Pó, he's also been getting ready for the summer theatrical release of his debut feature film Didi . Another deeply personal tale, this one about a Taiwanese American boy entering his teen years, Didi was honored at this year's Sundance Film Festival

"You only make the thing that you make, and you put your best foot forward and kind of see where it lives in the world," Wang said.

Sean Wang's two grandmothers Chang Li Hua and Yi Yan Fuei have been sharing living quarters for about a decade.

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His grandmothers have long supported his film endeavors, gamely making a video Christmas card five years ago that featured scenes of them playing dress-up and swigging hard liquor that Wang replicated for Nai Nai & Wài Pó.

"It's a side of themselves that I think nobody has really allowed them to show in a very sort of creative way," Wang said.

In Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó , the silliness was juxtaposed against the pain and sadness both grandmothers carried, starting from their childhood, when they fled war-torn China for Taiwan. In the film, Nai Nai recalls the loss of her mom at 10, and her father at 12.

The film also obliquely addresses their pandemic-era anxiety created by the rise in anti-Asian violence, with a scene of the grandmothers reading a Chinese-language newspaper.

But most of the film focuses on the quiet pleasures of daily lives spent together exercising, singing and tucking into the same bed at night where Chang interrogates Yi about farting under the covers.

By the end of the film, the message of the grandmothers is clear even as they describe death drawing nearer: Choose joy, to paraphrase Yi.

For their red carpet debut, the two will wear custom Rodarte and be styled by an Oscar-nominated costume designer.

"They're really having like the best time of their lives," Wang said. "It feels really special to kind of be able to give them this core memory at 96 and 86 years old."

The flirtation with Hollywood isn't over for his wài pó, Chang Li Hua. She stars in his new film Didi — as the grandmother.

In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena and Pasadena’s music community have really shown up to support fire survivors, especially fellow musicians who lost instruments and record collections.

That effort continues this weekend with a special donation concert at a Pasadena record store, with the aim of getting vinyl records back in the hands of survivors who lost their collections.

“You know, our name is Healing Force of the Universe, and I think that gives me a pretty clear direction… especially after the fires,” said Austin Manuel, founder of Pasadena record store, where Sunday’s show will be held.

The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s instruments in the Eaton Fire. Through Altadena Musicians’s donation and registry platform, Jay said he and his partners have helped some 1,200 fire survivors get their music instruments back.

Brandon Jay.

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Robert Garrova

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Now, that effort has fanned out to restoring vinyl record collections.

“All of that stuff evaporated for thousands of people,” Jay said. “Look at your own record collection and be like, ‘Wow, what if that whole thing disappeared?’”

You might know Jay from several bands over the years, including Lutefisk, a 1990s alt-rock band based in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Gwendolyn Sanford, composed music for TV shows, including Orange is the New Black and Weeds.

Jay plans to play some holiday tunes at Sunday's record donation show (which LAist is the media sponsor), along with fellow musician Daniel Brummel of Sanglorians. Brummel, who was also a founding member of Pasadena’s indie-rock sensation Ozma, said he was grateful to Jay for his fire recovery work and to Manuel for making Healing Force available for shows like this.

Brummel, who came close to losing his own home in the Eaton Fire, recalled a show he played at Healing Force back in March.

Ryen Slegr (left) and Daniel Brummel perform with their band, Ozma, on the 2014 Weezer Cruise.

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“The trauma of the fires was still really fresh,” Brummel said. After playing a cover of Rufus Wainwright’s “Going to a Town,” that night — which includes the lyrics “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down” — Brummel said his neighbors in the audience told him the rendition hit them hard. “It felt really powerful. And without that space, it just wouldn’t have occurred.”

Details

Healing Force of the Universe Record Donation Show
Featuring: Quasar (aka Brandon Jay), Sanglorians (Daniel Brummel) and The Acrylic.
Sunday, Dec. 14; 2 to 5 p.m.
1200 E. Walnut St., Pasadena
Tickets are $15 or you can donate 5 or more records at the door. More info here.

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.

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Why do they celebrate? 

In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

“It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.

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Gathering in a time of turmoil 

Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

“People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

“We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

“Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

See it for yourself

The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.