Focus Sets Sundance Coming-of-Age Film ‘Didi’ for July Release

Focus Features has set “Didi 弟弟,” the coming-of-age Sundance film from newcomer Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, Chang Li Huawriter-director Sean Wang, for a release on July 26.

Wang was recently nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short for “Nai Nai & Wài Pó,” in which he followed his grandmothers as they went about their lives together. The short doc won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at SXSW as well as the Audience Prize at TheWrap’s ShortList Film Festival.

Set in 2008, “Didi 弟弟,” stars Izaac Wang” as a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American teen enjoying the last month of summer break before he goes off to high school. In that month, he learns all the things he didn’t learn in middle school: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom.

Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, and Chang Li Hua also star in “Didi 弟弟,”, which Wang produced with Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters, and Valerie Bush. After its Sundance premiere, the film won the festival’s U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast.

Focus Features, which recently released Zelda Williams’ feature debut “Lisa Frankenstein,” will next release Ethan Coen’s “Drive Away Dolls” later this month. Other films on Focus’ 2024 slate include Morgan Neville’s stop-motion Lego animated documentary “Brick By Brick,” Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders,” and Kobi Libii’s “The American Society of Magical Negroes.”