On February 3, 2025, I met with Irvington’s very own Sean Wang to talk about “Dìdi,” his experiences at Irvington, and his career since then.

Wang, who grew up in Fremont and attended Horner Junior High and Irvington, is now an Oscar-nominated director in the documentary short category, as well as a Sundance U.S. Dramatic Audience Award recipient. His first feature film, “Dìdi,” released in July of 2024, is a witty and nostalgic coming of age film about a 13-year-old Chris Wang who navigates the rocky yet fulfilling summer before high school. Set and filmed in Fremont, California, the film features many local areas that Irvington students will most definitely recognize.

“When I started to get into filmmaking, I realized I had never been on a movie set,” said Wang. “The first time I was on a movie set was so far away from Fremont, and I think for people who aren’t in that filmmaking environment, being on set is really interesting, special, and cool. I wanted to kind of bring that back to a place that had given me so much, and I feel like the setting was such a big part of the movie. A lot of the local businesses and restaurants really got involved and were really supportive, so it felt like a very homegrown, community driven film.”

“I think I just wanted to try to make something that felt like growing up in Fremont; growing up in a sort of very multicultural community, and trying to make a portrait of the place.”

Wang graduated as class of 2012 from Irvington High School, and class of 2008 from Horner Junior High. When asked why he chose to specifically focus on the transition from middle school to high school, he commented: “Looking back on [those moments] that felt a little bit more ripe for storytelling was that middle school period, that time before high school.”

“Dìdi” was a film that deeply resonated with audiences all across the world. Whether it be people who grew up in the Bay Area or Asian-Americans who grew up in the 2000’s, the film was able to find an audience in anyone who watched.

Wang reflected on his high school experience, saying: “Irvington was a good experience overall. It had some really incredible teachers like Mr. Jackson. He was the principal for a little bit, I think, but he taught sports psychology while I was there. It was at Irvington where I took my first photo classes, and got to mess around with film photography. One of my friends who’s in the movie actually, Summer, is the photography teacher there now.”

The movie is deeply rooted in Wang’s very own life and upbringing, telling the story of how he started his passion for filming. 

“I have been filming random stuff with my friends since middle school. We were making little skate videos, and I would just film myself skating in my garage and put it up on YouTube. But I think the first time that we tried to make a proper short film it was not very good. It was basically just a skate video that we got to make for class, but it ended up winning third place in the city wide video contest. So I was like, ‘Okay, I guess this is kind of legit.’

I was already interested in messing around with editing and filming, and I had already started experimenting with video and photography at that point. I didn’t know that I was going to major in it, or that I wanted to make a career out of it at that point, but it was just something that I was really excited about that I would spend all my time doing.”

Wang truly shot to success following the release of his documentary short, “Nai Nai & Wài Pó.” Initially released in March of 2023, the short received numerous international film festival awards, along with an Oscar nomination, before getting acquired by Disney Branded Television later in the same year. “I don’t think when I was your age, I could have ever imagined that we would have gotten to premiere at Sundance, get nominated for an Oscar, or anything,” said Wang.

“I guess I still don’t really look at myself like we’ve achieved any type of success. You’re always trying to make stuff that you’re excited about and having that be the barometer of success, not necessarily how things are received. But I’ve been making stuff since I was younger than you, and a lot of the stuff I made in middle school, high school, early college, and even late college, too, no one really saw and we weren’t making them for anyone except ourselves. It was very pure. It was just ‘Oh, let’s go pick up a camera and go shoot.’ I think that was something that I think I’m always chasing and striving for; trying to make stuff that feels fun and can feel alive.”

Finally, if Wang could tell current high schoolers something, he would tell them this: 

“Allow yourself to be excited about the things that excite you. Don’t feel guilty about having interests, even if they don’t align with what your parents think you should do or what the world thinks you should do. I know a lot of people who felt a little bit lost in their 20’s, and it’s a normal feeling to feel lost at any age.

Allow yourself to have interests and allow yourself to kind of do things that excite you, whether or not it can be put on your college apps or your resume. I know now from being on the other side, it’s the smallest thing people care about later on in life, so don’t throw away your interest in music, art, or creativity, because you think you have to go one way—two things can exist at the same time.”