Celine Song

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Celine Song
File:MKr23309 Celine Song (Past Lives, Berlinale 2023).jpg
Born Song Ha-Young
1988 (age 36–37)
South Korea
Education
Occupation
  • Filmmaker
  • playwright
Spouse(s) Justin Kuritzkes (m. 2016)

Celine Song (born Song Ha-yeong; Korean: 송하영;[1] 1988) is a Korean-Canadian director, playwright, and screenwriter based in the United States. Among her plays are Endlings and The Seagull on The Sims 4. Her directorial film debut Past Lives received critical acclaim, and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 96th Academy Awards.

Early life and education

Song was born in South Korea.[2] Her parents, both artists, moved the family to Markham, Ontario, Canada when she was 12.[2][3] Her father, Song Neung-han, is a filmmaker.[4] She has hinted at her Western name being a reference to the character in Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) directed by Jacques Rivette.[5]

Song wrote her first play, an adaptation of Prometheus, at a classics conference she attended (the Ontario Student Classics Conference) with the Markham District Classics Club.[6]

Song attended Queen's University in Ontario for her undergraduate degree and studied psychology with a minor in philosophy, before receiving her MFA in playwriting from Columbia University in New York in 2014.[7][8][6]

Career

2019–2020: Off-Broadway works

Song's play Endlings premiered in 2019 at the American Repertory Theater. The show's off-Broadway run opened in March 2020 at New York Theatre Workshop, but was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The show tells the story of three older Korean women haenyeos and a Korean-Canadian writer living in New York.[9][2] In a mixed review, Alexandra Schwartz of The New Yorker described Endlings as "two works spliced roughly together: a traditional play that seeks to depict people’s lives, and a metafictional examination of the playwright’s own motivations, which flirts with honesty before traipsing down a solipsistic path of no return."[10] The play was chosen for the 2018 O'Neill Playwrights Conference and was a finalist for the 2020 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.[11]

In November 2020, Song directed a live production of Chekhov's The Seagull using The Sims 4 on Twitch for New York Theatre Workshop, called The Seagull on The Sims 4.[12][2] In a review for Vulture, Helen Shaw praised the experimental play: "I think Song’s game-play/play-game managed the trick by capturing the experience not of going to a show but of working on one. At her urging, viewers brought the quality of attention that comes with collaboration, and that felt like a churning motor under everything, trying to propel the show into being."[13]

Song's other plays include Tom and Eliza, which was named a semifinalist for the American Playwriting Foundation's 2016 Relentless Award, Family, and The Feast.[14][11] According to her biography on The Playwright's Realm, "she has been awarded residences, fellowships, and commissions from MTC/Sloan, Sundance, the Millay Colony for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Edward F. Albee Foundation."[11]

2021–present: Breakthrough with Past Lives

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Main article: Past Lives (film)

Song wrote the screenplay for Past Lives, her directorial film debut, about two childhood friends who later reunite as adults (portrayed by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo).[15] The film is partly inspired by Song's life, specifically a dinner she had with her English-speaking husband and her Korean-speaking friend visiting New York.[6] In an interview with Scott Feinberg for The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, she reflects on the experience: "at one point, I realized that I wasn't just translating between their languages and cultures, but also translating between these two parts of myself as well."[6] The film was produced by A24 and premiered at Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2023.[16] Past Lives received critical acclaim and has been compared to the work of Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, and Noah Baumbach.[17][18] The Guardian's Benjamin Lee rated it 4/5 stars and praised Song's work: "as writer, Song manages to keep her dialogue believably light-footed and spare while as director, she confidently and evocatively captures both cities with a breadth that belies her inexperience. It's a beautiful, transporting film but one made with both feet firmly on the ground."[19] Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair hailed the film as "understated and yet vast in its consideration of the slow changes of life, of the past ever whispering to the present. The film is as auspicious a debut as one can hope to see at Sundance, the announcement of a filmmaker confident in her craft and generous with her heart."[16] Alissa Wilkinson of Vox said Past Lives should be "one of 2023’s most talked-about films".[20] The film received many accolades including nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 96th Academy Awards.[21]

Song's first television screenwriting job was as a staff writer for the first season of Amazon's The Wheel of Time.[22] Her next film project, Materialists is in production with A24 as of December 2023. Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans are in talks to star, with Sony Pictures acquiring select international distribution rights at the European Film Market in February 2024.[23][24][25]

Personal life

Song resides in New York City with her husband, writer Justin Kuritzkes, whom she met at an artist residency hosted by the Edward F. Albee Foundation.[26][27][6] Song says that he is always the first person to read her scripts.[28]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Writer Notes Ref.
2023 Past Lives Yes Yes [16]
TBA Materialists Yes Yes [23]

Television

Year Title Notes Ref.
2021 The Wheel of Time Staff writer; 8 episodes [2]

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2020 Endlings Playwright NYTW; February–March, 2020 [29]
2020 The Seagull on The Sims 4. Playwright NYTW; October 27–28, 2020 [30]

Accolades

Year Association Category Project Result Ref
2023 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Director Past Lives Nominated [31]
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Best Woman Director Nominated
Best Woman Screenwriter Won
Asia Pacific Screen Awards Best Director Won
Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Nominated
Boston Society of Film Critics Best New Filmmaker Won
British Independent Film Awards Best International Independent Film Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Milos Stehlik Award for Breakthrough Filmmaker Won
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Director 5th place [32]
Dublin Film Critics' Circle Best Director Won
Florida Film Critics Circle Best Director Nominated
Best First Film Won
Best Original Screenplay Won
Pauline Kael Breakout Award Runner-up
Gotham Awards Best Feature Won [33]
Breakthrough Director Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association New Generation Award Won
National Board of Review Best Directorial Debut Won
New York Film Critics Online Best Debut Director Won
San Diego Film Critics Society Best First Feature Runner-up
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
St. Louis Film Critics Association Best Director Nominated [34]
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Sydney Film Festival Best Film Nominated
Toronto Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Director Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Won
2024 Academy Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Astra Film Awards Best Director Nominated [35]
Best First Feature Won
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Austin Film Critics Association Best Director Nominated [36]
Best First Film Won
Best Original Screenplay Won
The Robert R. "Bobby" McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award Nominated
British Academy Film Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Best Film Not in the English Language Nominated
Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated [37]
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film Won
Independent Spirit Awards Best Director Won [38]
Best Screenplay Nominated
Georgia Film Critics Association Best Director Nominated [39]
Best Original Screenplay Runner-up
Breakthrough Award Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture - Drama Nominated [40]
Best Director Nominated
Best Screenplay Nominated
International Cinephile Society Best Debut Film Pending
London Film Critics' Circle Screenwriter of the Year Nominated [41]
National Society of Film Critics Best Screenplay Runner-up
Online Film Critics Society Best Director Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Best Feature Debut Won
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Best Director Nominated [42]
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated [43]
Seattle Film Critics Society Best Director Nominated [44]
Best Screenplay Nominated
Sundance Film Festival Vanguard Award Celine Song Won
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Original Screenplay Past Lives Pending [45]

References

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External links

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  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Feinberg, Scott (2024-02-24). "'Awards Chatter' Podcast: Celine Song on True Story Behind 'Past Lives,' Final Draft's Subtitles Problem and the 'In-Yun' in Her Life" The Hollywood Reporter (Podcast). Retrieved 2024-03-17.
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