Kangmin Kim invites us into the vicarious dreams of his mother in “KKUM.” In this stop-motion animated experimental memoir, Kim illustrates his mother’s prophetic visions in monochromatic styrofoam, cotton, and light. These elements are re-contextualized in a way that allows Kim to make sense of uncanny changes in his life. Material manifestations of fire, insects, […]
Can we be friends with our circumstances? This is the question that Jason Park asks us in their short film, “BJ’s Mobile Gift Shop.” Byung Jun Lee, or BJ for short (played by Johnnyboy Tellem), is in the middle of transitioning away from a “career” selling a variety of goods to Chicagoans that are “moving […]
A lone receptionist stands behind his desk. At all times, he maintains a demeanor that is equal parts serious, bored, and annoyed. He keeps his desk neat, and though the hotel is clean and modern, he doesn’t consider his job particularly glamorous. Day in and day out, he checks people into the hotel. The next […]
Watching Carol Nguyen’s short film “No Crying at the Dinner Table” as a child of Asian immigrants is an uncomfortable, queasy experience–if only because it touches upon a familiar sense of stoicism that haunts many Asian families. In my own, and in many others, openly talking about feelings usually never happens unless it comes in […]
Directed by Kathy Meng, “My Boyfriend’s Daughter” is a short film that follows Essie (Claire Hsu), a young Asian American woman engaged in a relationship with the significantly older Karl (Guy Ventoliere). However, despite dating him for so long, Essie is unable to get Karl to introduce her to his daughter, Sis (Grace Vensel), and […]