Here is a statement from the author:
"Everyone was in need to cheering up, because of lockdown. The over-the-top plot, and the ridiculousness of a dead body and a big wedding is such great escapism. Chinese-Indonesian weddings are amazing, they can have an average of 2,000 guests - my heroine has to hide the body with the help of her mum and aunties."
Jesse Q. Sutanto expressed that the film deal would not have happened if not for the success of the book-based film Crazy Rich Asians. Also, the Oscar win for the film Parasite for best picture has shown to Hollywood that there is a shift of interest for more Asian storytelling.
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Here is a statement from Mike Goodridge, artistic director of Macao's International Film Festival and Awards:
"Lots of issues are coming together in a perfect storm in 2020. China is now officially the biggest film market in the world - there are 1.3 billion people there and that wipes out the US market by comparison. You're looking at gigantic-sized hits coming out of China - films coming close to making $1bn in China alone.
"But there's also a sea change. In the past, we've been at the mercy of what you could call American cultural imperialism - we all used to wait for the next Hollywood blockbuster. They made the movies and showed them throughout the world.
"But streaming services like Netflix and Amazon are about getting subscribers in each country. You can't just throw Marvel movies at that audience - you have to make local films and TV. They want their own stories.
"And so these US companies are putting money into content creation all over Asia, including a hub in Singapore."
"This shift has coincided with the pandemic. We're not seeing many Hollywood movies, as they have been delayed, so viewers who are at home are focused on a lot of TV or interesting foreign language stuff that we've never looked at before," he says, adding: "We're more open to subtitles."
Here is a statement from Anderson Le, a Vietnamese American artistic director for Hawaii international Film Festival, and co-founded the film studio East:
"Half the population is under the age of 40. The cinemas are open, ticket sales are good, and because there are no competing films coming from Hollywood, audiences are watching some really good local films.
'I don't think countries like Vietnam, China and Korea even need to think about America now. They're like the Bollywood film industry in India, in that they want to reach their own first. Any other success elsewhere is just gravy to them."
However, Le believe that the area where Asia want to make an impression is at the Oscars.
Here is the goodreads synopsis of Dial A for Aunties:
A hilariously quirky novel that is equal parts murder mystery, rom-com, and a celebration of mothers and daughters as well as a deep dive into Chinese-Indonesian culture, by debut author Jesse Q. Sutanto.
1 (accidental) murder
2 thousand wedding guests
3 (maybe) cursed generations
4 meddling Asian aunties to the rescue!
When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is accidentally shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working, at an island resort on the California coastline. It’s the biggest job yet for their family wedding business—“Don’t leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!”—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie’s perfect buttercream cake flowers.
But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy’s great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?
Story Locale: Southern California
Source material: Yahoo.com