“The Joy Luck Club” film turns 30

Released in September 1993, The Joy Luck Club film turns 30 this month! Based on Amy Tan’s book of the same name, the film was about four Chinese immigrant women and their relationships with their adult daughters. At the time of its release, it was one of very few films that featured a predominantly Asian cast telling an Asian American story.

In 2020, The Joy Luck Club was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage.”

The film was directed by Wayne Wang, the screenplay was written by Amy Tan and Ron Bass, and it starred Kiều Chinh, Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lisa Lu, Ming-Na Wen, Tamlyn Tomita, Lauren Tom, and Rosalind Chao.