iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 05/10/2026

Whew, #SchoolOfDefectors at #VIFF26. I cried a lot 🥹😂😭 Great doc about North Korean defectors in a South Korean boarding school. Harrowing stories, brilliant kids. Executive produced by Daniel Dae Kim.

020

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 03/10/2026

Spent the morning driving up to Vancouver and I'm now seated for my first ever #VIFF screening, #FrankAndLouis 👀 Very excited for this one

screen still from Frank and Louis, two men sit facing each other across a table wearing prison uniforms

040

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 01/10/2026

Very happy with my Oct 1 addition to the kitchen

a wall hanging of a baboon wearing Baroque costume holding a dirty martini

150

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 29/09/2026

More grid memes 🥲 From @nytimes.com, The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Header: "I've seen 65 of The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century" grid of TV posters on yellow background

000

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 26/09/2026

12 minutes left in Friday! Here's my mix of festival films, a work-related rewatch, and #ForgottenIsland (which I adored) #LetterboxdFriday

0100

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 06/09/2026

Haven't made it to Cannes as press yet, but it's my dream film festival! For now, visiting as a tourist will do 😘

Li standing in front of the iconic red stairs in Cannes

160

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 26/08/2026

What great news to wake up to! Excited to join @seattlecritics.bsky.social—my first ever critics society 😀 Thank you @eclectichutch.bsky.social @calvinkemph.bsky.social and all for the invite, and for the warm PNW (oxymoron??) welcome since I moved out here a few years ago.

SFCS Seattle Film Critics Society website screenshot showing "Welcome New Members" Caleb Masters, Li Lai, and Matt Erspamer

2101

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 05/05/2026

Weee #MortalKombatMovie was a fun watch 🥷🏻🥋👊🏻💢💀 Review to come

Advance screening preview image of Mortal Kombat II

030

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 26/01/2026

I just caught the gorgeous #Sundance26 film IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME. It's a gut punch, showing a painful portrait of emotional distance between a father and son, how easy it is to keep your child at arms length, and the intentionality and grit required to become a more present parent.

Still from IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME of a mother hugging her 12-year-old son outdoors by a rundown apartment complex

040

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 24/01/2026

Sizzle premiere for #ARoadMapToHappiness with Elijah Woods, Alec Baldwin, and others #Sundance26 Would watch—I love a good docuseries

panel at World of Hyatt house at Sundance with Elijah Woods, Alex Baldwin, and others on screen

000

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 23/01/2026

my last post-badge pickup walk to Eccles for Day 1 of Sundance 😭 I'm feeling like such a sap today, I have so many memories in Park City #Sundance26

selfie with snow backdrop, holding up press badge

040

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 05/12/2025

Boosting for a friend: "I AM GIVING AWAY PRODUCTION GRANT MONEY!! The Roll Call: Women in TV & Film community on Kyndr let me put together this microgrant contest for WOMEN and NON BINARY folks working on TV or film production projects." Prize and submission details in the graphic 👍🏻👍🏻

Graphic that reads: Roll Call: Women in Film + TV Microgrant Submissions. Roll Call is now accepting submissions for their very first Kyndr: Women in TV & Film Microgrant. In order to be eligible to submit your treatment or pitch deck, you must join our community by using the QR code to the Kyndr app below, and be sure to fill out the submission form by December 19th. $2500 to 1st place, $1500 to 2nd place, $1000 to 3rd place

010

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 03/12/2025

Hey #filmsky catch the AI blooper when I tried to search Cuarón's movies 🙄 so sick of Gemini getting shoved down my throat when I'm just trying to read my emails, download a PDF, or use a search engine

Google search results for Alfonso Cuarón showing Roma, Children of Men, Y tu mamá también, Gravity, HP 3, and Pan's Labyrinth

220

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 05/10/2025

In Taiwan on family vacation and crying that I a) don't have time ob) can't understand Chinese (lol), otherwise I'd love to catch this theatrical screening of Yi Yi 😭

010

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 08/09/2025

Final #TIFF50 rundown: 26 films, most of them good or very good. #Hamnet tops the list ❤️ A great year, excited to see more like #LeftHandedGirl #RentalFamily when they come out soon!

Letterboxd thumbnails of Hamnet (5 stars), Tuner (4.5 stars), Meadowlarks, Roofman (4 stars), Hedda, A Private Life, A Pale View of Hills, Lucky Lu, Girl, The Son and the Sea, The Lost Bus (3.5 stars), The Man in the Basement

The Sun Rises on us All (3.5 stars), California Schemin', Modern Whore, Whistle, The Choral (3 stars), Little Lorraine, Retreat, Ghost School

Nomad Shadow (3 stars), Sacrifice (2.5 stars), Renoir, Homebound, Laundry (2 stars), Glenrothan (1.5 stars)

020

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 08/09/2025

Oh wow #Hamnet #TIFF50 fucked me up. So many sniffles in the packed theater. Chloé Zhao, man 🤧 That concludes my festival this year! 25 movies later, this is my runaway favorite. Getting on a plane in a couple of hours back to Seattle—last stop, ramen 🍜

161

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 06/09/2025

#CaliforniaSchemin dir. by James McAvoy (onstage, along with main actors) was so much fun—a total crowd pleaser, and we can always use more Scottish movies!!

California Schemin' Q&A with actors, director, and moderator on stage.

130

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 04/09/2025

Kicking it off with dumping rain, #TheChoral (fluffy, with a few cringey punchlines/scenes, but overall a pleasure to watch), and noodle lunch at my TIFF go-to, Pho Xe Lua

140

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 03/09/2025

Look who I found on my flight to #TIFF50 @eclectichutch.bsky.social ❤️ Yes that beautiful backdrop is YYZ lol

020

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 24/07/2025

After skipping last year's #TIFF to have a baby 👶🏻 I'm thrilled to be back in Toronto for #TIFF2025! (Who wants to come to Seattle to babysit for five days? 🥴🥴)

TIFF 2025 Media Accreditation Confirmation email

060

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 30/06/2025

Finally sitting down to go through the NYTimes 100 best movies of the 21st century so far #filmsky

150

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 16/03/2025

Also very good and largely under the radar: #DropsOfGod. I'm excited it finally got a Season 2 renewal 🙏🏻

Drops of God promo image of woman and man's faces on a wine glass. Tagline: "Let the competition begin"

020

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 03/03/2025

Play on a white russian with a pink foam strawberry topper for #Anora #Oscars2025

brown liquid in a rocks glass topped with whipped cream and pink glitter

110

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 03/03/2025

Red wine (aka the blood of Christ) mixed with red vermouth, Benedictine, grand marnier, orange juice, topped with the body of Christ #Conclave

320

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 03/03/2025

#Nosferatru's midsummer solstice gin, Lillet, creme de violette, sour bitters, shaken with lots of ice with bleeding hibiscus petals soaked in grenadine

clear cocktail with red bleeding hibiscus petal

110

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 03/03/2025

Blue curacao creme de cacao, vermouth, and gin with a dark chocolate sand for #DunePartTwo

130

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 03/03/2025

Oscars thread this year is just cocktails: Midori tea with grapefruit bubble ice 🤭

140

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 01/03/2025

so excited for this year's oscar themed cocktails again. my friend is an a+++ mixologist 😂

030

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 11/02/2025

A bright spot of news: Women reached equality in movies for the first time since USC Annenberg began tracking. Of the 100 top-grossing films in 2024, 54 featured a girl or woman in a lead/co-lead role. Universal fared best (67%) and Sony Pictures worst (39%). usc.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?...

Bar chart showing shares of women/girls as protagonists in movies by year since 2007

033

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 31/01/2025

Couldn't get into #Atropia, it has a pretty specific sense of humor that didn't work for me 🤷🏻‍♀️ Didn't finish watching this one. Onto the next! #Sundance2025

Close up on Alia Shawkat wearing a medieval-looking headdress, screaming.

130

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 31/01/2025

Oof, #Omaha. Felt longer than it needed to be, but ends on a gut punch. #Sundance2025

Dad, 10-year-old daughter, and her younger brother and golden retriever in a car on the road

040

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 30/01/2025

Hmm, so #DJAhmet weirdly didn't work for me at all. Normally I love a coming-of-age dramedy, but this one was so s - l - o - w ... 🐢 Didn't live up to the energy I'd expected out of a story about a rural sheep farmer who wants to be a DJ. #Sundance2025

Distant shot of a group of women practicing a dance in rural Macedonia, as a teen boy and his younger brother run towards them.

010

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 30/01/2025

#Sundance2025 movie number 8 is #Twinless, and I really dug it. Felt fresh and modern with its genre-bending between psychological thriller, dark comedy, and drama.

Dylan O'Brien and James Sweeney wear matching Halloween costumes inside a house party

040

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 30/01/2025

Chongqing- and Paris-set film #LUZ at #Sundance2025 is visually gorgeous, full of neon and noir-ish sensibilities. A contemporary dance piece midway through is truly striking. That said, the two main narratives are too distant to connect, and the pacing is a bit of a slog.

A 3D-animated neon pink deer faces a woman and man sitting on the edge of a building wall.

020

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 29/01/2025

I enjoyed #LoveBrooklyn, it's a vibe. And the ruminations on change—mourning what's lost, and being hopeful about what's gained—is an evergreen message that will resonate with many. #Sundance2025

030

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 10/12/2024

After giving birth two weeks ago, I wasn't sure if I could handle #SundanceFilmFestival ... definitely not for travel, but I finally applied for online credentials and they just came through 🙂 Won't be the same as being on the mountain with y'all, but at least I can keep my #Sundance streak going!

Online press credentials confirmation email from Sundance Film festival 2025

270

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 17/11/2024

about to hit play on my first ever Hallmark movie/series/anything 😮 (And yes I'm here because of Osric Chau) #Holidazed

TV series page showing Holidazed on Hallmark+

030

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 16/11/2024

That canceled TV show you'll never stop thinking about?

Selfie poster of John Cho and Karen Gillen

131

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 19/10/2024

TFW you put on #LonelyPlanet and immediately realize they've slapped on the "brown person country" sepia filter 😑 Strongly hoping I'm jumping the gun here and that the lighting changes soon, because Marrakesh/Morocco is bright and colorful AF

140

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 16/10/2024

Just put on Netflix's #CulinaryClassWars. "Black Spoon means below par, and White Spoon means above par." 🤔🤔🤔

010

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 04/09/2024

Seated for #MyOldAss ❤️ I might be skipping TIFF this year (too pregnant to travel, bleh) but at least I can still pretend to be a real film critic 🥲

220

Li Lai • Mediaversity is @VIFFest26 @mediaversityreviews.com · 04/04/2024

I'm ready to turn my brain off and submerge in violent action genre thrills 🧘🏻‍♀️ #MonkeyMan

030