Falling for Grace

Plot synopsis

Grace Tang, a Wall Street investment banker raised in New York's Chinatown, works as a mergers and acquisitions associate but longs for acceptance among the Upper East Side elite. When she attends a Junior Committee meet-and-greet for an opera company, she is mistaken for a Hong Kong heiress also named Grace Tang. Her attempts to correct the error weaken after she meets Andrew James Barrington Jr., who is dating committee member Kay Douglas. Andrew, a son of a prominent attorney, works in the New York State Attorney General's office and is pursuing a case against Chinatown sweatshops, including one where Grace's mother works.

Grace pretends her parents are an elderly couple she visits as a volunteer. Meanwhile, Andrew's father helps shepherd a fashion-company buyout at Grace's bank, a company that exploits sweatshop labor.

Grace's brother Ming reveals the truth to Andrew, ending the romance. Grace later provides documents proving the sweatshop connection, leading to the company's and Andrew's father's downfalls. Andrew leaves Kay for Hong Kong, where Grace has accepted a new position.

Production

The film was initially set to be the feature directorial debut of B.D. Wong, who left the project late in production citing artistic differences with producers. Fay Ann Lee replaced him as director, and Wong requested his name be removed from credits despite playing a major supporting role. Lee rewrote and reshot over 60 pages of the script, mentored by Jim Taylor, the Oscar-winning writer of Sideways.

College speaking tour

Fay Ann Lee has taken her filmmaking journey to campuses nationwide and in China, addressing audiences at Yale, Stanford, Harvard, and her own alma mater, Wharton, among others. After a Harvard screening, she became an official Harvard Guest Speaker for the 2010 Young Leader's Conference in Beijing.

Did You Know?

• The original screenplay, East Broadway, was a quarterfinalist for the 2003 Nicholl Fellowships.
• The film won Best Dramatic Feature at the 2009 Reel Film Festival for Women in Los Angeles.
• It won the Best Feature Film Audience Award at the 2009 Delray Beach Film Festival.