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SYNOPSIS: Nick is a gay Korean-American man living in Koreatown, Los Angeles with his partner Brian and their dog Chloe. When Nick attends his baby nephew's 'dol,' a traditional Korean first birthday party, he finds himself yearning for a life just out of reach.


DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT: I made this film to come out to my parents.

I knew I wouldn't be able to tell them, to say the words "I'm gay." So I cast my family in the film, but never told them that it was about a gay Korean-American man. The filmmaking process both distracted from and prepared me for the inevitable -- that I would eventually have to show my parents the finished film.

I hoped that showing my parents a film about a gay Korean-American man would help them understand me. I wanted to use the medium of filmmaking to tell them a story, not just say the words "I'm gay." And hopefully the story would better articulate who I am and what I am dealing with: that I struggle with my gay and Korean identities, that I wish I could have a family the way my father had a family, and that despite all this, I am a proud gay man.

Sundance Festival Shorts Programmer
Mike Plante is a filmmaker and festival programmer. He directed the feature documentary BE LIKE AN ANT (2011) and many shorts including THE MASQUE (2012) and THE POLAROID JOB (2016), which is available on the New York Times' Op-Doc website. more...
Tags:Shorts

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