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.

Toby Louie is a Los Angeles based filmmaker. His credits include NIGHT OWLS, which was released in 2015 by MGM, the short film GOOD CRAZY, which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, the short WANNABE, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and is currently being packaged as a feature, the short PREMIUM HARMONY, which won Best US Short at the Laughlin International Film Festival, and A BORDER STORY, a short which premiered at Tribeca in 2010. He also recently directed the “All is Forgiven” music video for the band Alekesam.

Sundance​ Institute​ ​Shorts P​rogrammer Mike Plante breaks down ​how he curates the Sundance Festival shorts and what​​ makes a successful film​.