Winner of SXSW’s Narrative Grand Jury Prize in 2025, Amy Wang’s Slanted is a biting satire and coming-of-age film that takes something we can all understand, wanting to fit in, and crafts it into a disturbing body horror. Bleecker Street has dropped the first trailer for the anticipated film ahead of its release on March 13th.
Shirley Chen stars as Joan Huang, a Chinese-American high schooler with dreams of becoming prom queen. But she figures the only way to do that is to look like the pretty white girls who have won in the past. Like something out of The Substance, a mysterious cosmetic surgery procedure called Ethnos changes Joan’s life by making her appear white. While the procedure works and she seems destined for the crown, the sacrifice to get it might be greater than expected.
Also in the Slanted cast are the ubiquitous McKenna Grace, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Vivian Wu, Amelie Zilber, Fang Du, Elaine Hendrix, and R. Keith Harris.
SYNOPSIS: Joan Huang idolizes the popular girls and dreams of being prom queen, but fears the only way to win is to look like all the past queens whose portraits line her high school halls. Enter Ethnos: a mysterious cosmetic surgery clinic that makes people of color appear white. Joan undergoes the procedure and wakes up a beautiful blonde destined for the crown, but at what cost? Blending sharp satire, sci-fi, and body horror, and starring Shirley Chen (Dìdi), Mckenna Grace (Regretting You), and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever), Slanted proves that identity is never only skin-deep.
Wang said as part of an official statement: “My first feature film, Slanted – offers a searing and unapologetically satirical view of race and what it is to be White. At the heart of this movie is a Chinese girl who just wants to feel accepted as an American. This is a deeply personal film that digs into your insecurities and exposes the twisted realities of a fractured identity. I have made this movie in the hopes that by exposing my wounds as a Chinese Australian woman, I can help others heal their own self-doubt.”
