PRESS
October 25th, 2024
October 21st, 2024
"The deeply sentimental lyrics and swoony keyboards became a vital escape hatch for Vietnamese American youth in the ’80s, some suffering from feelings of displacement, family troubles and the aftermath of war.”
June 13th, 2024
"Tribeca Festival has announced the 2024 winners of its competition categories at an awards ceremony at Racket NYC.”
June 10th, 2024
"New Wave is an instructive document and an emotional reckoning; the most wonderful surprise in watching it is how greatly it succeeds at both.”
June 5th, 2024
"My favorite Tribeca music documentary was a homespun affair: Elizabeth Ai’s ‘New Wave,’ a soft scream of a film about ’80s Vietnamese diaspora culture and style."
June 5th, 2024
"Revealing a subculture little known to outsiders, the film soars in its glimpses of the past, most notably the archival performances and photo montages; the period’s outrageous hair must be seen to be believed."
June 4th, 2024
"A documentary love letter to her community and how its consumption of pop culture shaped defiant attitudes that still resonate today."
June 4th, 2024
"Ai’s commanding exploration of cultural identity and community resilience makes for an intimate, emotionally-attuned watch."
April 17th, 2024
“The final selections were chosen from a record-breaking pool of 13,016 submissions. Half of the films in competition are directed by women and 35% (36) of all feature films are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.”
May 18th, 2021
“Elizabeth Ai’s upcoming documentary New Wave tells the story about this world of Vietnamese hipness. The Chinese-Vietnamese-American director learned about Viet New Wave from her grandmother, who used to bring Paris by Night tapes to their family home in San Gabriel, California. Ai says she’s making her documentary to show her three-year-old daughter the Vietnamese diaspora stories outside of war.”
October 16th, 2023
“The representation we’re starting to see is inspiring. It’s a privilege to live in a time when you can see it happening, and witness history. I’m hopeful my daughter will grow up in a world where she feels she belongs, and a film like New Wave can contribute to her understanding. I'm excited to be a part of this wave of AAPI wave of storytelling. It’s been slow coming, but it’s not going away.”
December 21st, 2023
"I had never seen Asian people like this onscreen," Ai recalled from when she began looking into this subculture. "I'd never seen them with the big hair, the funky clothes, the synth music, and the attitude and rebellion that comes with being a teen. It' exactly the kind of representation people of color are craving in the media."
April 20th, 2022
"This month’s episode of In a Mood features Elizabeth Ai – the director and creator of New Wave Documentary – covering the sounds of Vietnamese New Wave, the music that came before it, and the cultural and diasporic impact of the sounds and scenes. This two hour mix airs 10 days before the 47th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War on April 30th."
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