Admissions Granted
- Directed by: Hao Wu, Miao Wang
- Released: 2024 (educational)
- Year of Production: 2023
In June 2023, the 6-3 conservative majority at the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education in the landmark Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. HARVARD and SFFA v. UNC cases, dealing a crushing blow to progressives who had labored to address racism in America through race-conscious policies.
The film revisits the district court trial of this case and tracks the case’s emotional, high-stakes journey to the Supreme Court. It documents how Edward Blum and activists on both sides strategize and hustle to win in court and in public opinion, and highlights the ways the case has divided the Asian American community. Woven throughout are incisive observations from The New Yorker’s Jeannie Suk Gersen, former Harvard president Neil L. Rudenstine, former Dean of Howard University (now Mount Holyoke College president) Danielle Holley, and professor Natasha Warikoo, who dig deeper into why the heated debate of affirmative action sits at the intersection of American beliefs.
Combining interviews, news archive, and verité footage with dynamic animated sequences that bring the closed-door court hearings to life, ADMISSIONS GRANTED takes an honest and thoughtful look at the complexity of the affirmative action debate, the divisions within the Asian American community and our nation’s increasing polarization on matters of race, equity, and inclusion.
Hao Wu has directed and produced four feature documentaries, that have received support from Ford Foundation JustFilms, CAAM, ITVS, Sundance Institute and international broadcasters. He is currently a fellow at the New America Foundation.
Miao Wang (director, producer, editor) is a Beijing-born New York-based filmmaker. Proudly bicultural and bilingual, she has a sensitive and fine-tuned appreciation of cultural nuances. Her focus is on creative and cinematic films that tell poignant human stories, inspire cultural understanding, build connections, and encourage a more humanistic perspective of the world. She holds a BA in economics from the University of Chicago, and an MFA in design and film from Parsons School of Design. She apprenticed with two mentors while completing her MFA: renowned graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister and the legendary documentarian Albert Maysles. Design sharpened her eyes to visual detail and how colors, textures, and patterns affect us. Maysles taught her how to be alert and perceptive to people’s gestures and emotions, however subtle. Both became models when she founded Three Waters Films in 2005. Since then she has produced two documentary features (Maineland and Beijing Taxi), part of a trilogy of films looking at China’s rise and its interaction with the U.S. Maineland (2017, New York Times Critic's Pick), Beijing Taxi(2010, New York Magazine Critic's Pick), and short film Yellow Ox Mountain (2007) have screened at over 200 international festivals and institutions such as SXSW and the Guggenheim Museum, with US theatrical releases, nationwide broadcasts, and digitally released globally on multiple platforms. Maineland world premiered in competition and received a Jury Award at the prestigious SXSW film festival, followed by a Jury Award at the Independent Film Festival of Boston and an Audience Choice Award at the New Hampshire Film Festival. It was nominated for the John Marshall Award at the Camden International Film Festival. Beijing Taxi world premiered in competition and was nominated for Best Feature Documentary at SXSW, and received a Best Feature Documentary award from the Sidewalk Film Festival and Best Director award from DukeCity Doc Fest. Miao’s films also have wide educational distribution - she tours across the U.S. to schools and conferences as a speaker and guest lecturer. While Maineland illuminates the experience of the Chinese students studying abroad in small town America for both the American and Chinese audiences, each audience takes away a different level of understanding. Maineland has been used by hundreds of schools, universities, and educational agencies in the U.S. not only for engendering greater understanding of the Chinese student experience, but also for teacher training.
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