this is your laugh

by Christopher Park Joon Hollstein World Premiere (1:16:27) 

This Is Your Laugh is a documentary that follows filmmaker Chris Hollstein as he starts out performing stand-up comedy in the San Francisco Bay Area as a stay-at-home father.

TRAILER:  https://vimeo.com/460369840

Coffee and a donuT

by Cary Patrick Martin (11:28) 

A story of a young immigrant who knows no English, and his trials in….ordering breakfast at the local diner.

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/283577857

one last monster

by Gene Kim (19:56) 

Empress Eura, ruler of the distant world of Adin, faces her greatest challenge when she is forced to face her prejudices and choose between trusting or killing a monster who arrives on Adin with a warning that could save or destroy her people.

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/SZ3trn9ZMMo 

DAy by day

by Eleanor Cho East Coast Premiere (5:00) 

Day by Day explores the changing relationship within a Korean marriage when the wife is diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Wednesdays

by Jung Yoon Jang, Hae Seoung Kim (15:24) 

Japanese military sexual slavery victims, Dong-bok and Seon-ok, attends the Wednesday Protest weekly that has been going on for twenty-eight years. Dong-bok is inquisitive and wishes to explore more about young culture. Seon-ok is now used to live in Seoul city after leaving her hometown. They both like to sit around in a park and simply watch people passing by. On one Wednesday, Dong-bok skips the protest, and goes to a cafe to drink a bubble tea. Dong-bok sees a couple there and remembers her childhood with her first love, Byeol-ha.

Latchkeys

by E.C. Timmer East Coast Premiere (18:38) 

Young Jenny comes from school to an empty home. Her single father works late, returning long after his daughter. Jenny – with her irrepressible spirit – uses her solitude to offer a gift of connection to her father.

26-year old Jenny rediscovers the expressiveness of her childhood, offering the same gift of connection to another young girl – so much like herself.

Blue Grey

by Katie Kim US Premiere (12:11) 

In Seoul 1989, two people are set up by their families on a date for marriage. Jiho, a die-hard New Yorker who wants to return to New York, aims to sabotage it at all cost. Moonsik, a lifelong Seoul-er, after a marathon of unsuccessful dates, must make this one work at all cost. Their date soon morphs into chaos, yet what they didn’t expect is – a connection made.

Secret Lives of Asians at Night

by KEFF (18:00) 

What does the model minority do after dark? (A screwball noir in 5 languages.)

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/332169513 

An Object of Merit

by Amanda Ann-Min Wong (23:30) 

What makes an ordinary bowl beautiful? Korean-Canadian ceramic artist Minjae Lee explores the influences on his functional wares, searching for purpose in his art.

Mirror

by Christina Yoon (12:18) 

Yeona is a Korean immigrant residing in Queens, NY who has a severely scarred face and suffers from deep-rooted self image issues. As a tailor at a local dry cleaners, she wears a cloth mask to hide herself from the world. Yeona decides to seek plastic surgery at a Korean black market hospital to fix her appearance once and for all. When she is urged to remake her appearance beyond recognition, Yeona is forced to question what can and cannot be repaired by going under the knife.

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/451981307 

land of my father

Matthew J Koshmrl East Coast Premiere (1:15:46) 

Set in the unresolved trauma of the Japanese occupation of Korea, Land of My Father (아버지의 땅) is a story about two individuals who take on the establishment in an attempt to change accepted historical narratives. A Korean farmer protests the Japanese government in Tokyo for claiming the disputed island territory of Dokdo after finding out his father was abducted and enslaved in a coal mine during the Japanese occupation of Korea. A Korean woman who lived on Dokdo with her father struggles to keep his legacy alive after the Korean government mysteriously erased their history of being pioneering residents.

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/388579850 

hajun bloom

by Ji Yoon Kim East Coast Premiere (4:16) 

In an attempt to explore their sexuality, Hajun descends into the heart of their Church’s core beliefs of denial and shame.

gamp (VR+2d)

by Rachel Wolther (22:00) 

MINA hits rock bottom and returns home to her neurotic, puppet-company-obsessed sister, GWEN. Mina convinces Gwen to let her help with her business, but when a high-maintenance Mom hires them for a “mindfulness-themed” party, the sister’s mutual resentment escalates a series of disasters, including a bloody search for a lost worm puppet and a hallucination-fueled bike ride.

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/7RoFAipuqbI 

ximbi xombi x (VR)

by David Kim (1:38:00) 

A music agent alters the souls of grunge band SheepPsyche to play alternative K-pop reggae live at the Virtual Reckoning.

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/vqLNI9wKMVI 

sesang

by Jules Suo Brooklyn Premiere (1:06:00) 

10 AM JFK airport. Han Chul waits for Nari near the air-train. Han Chul is a documentary filmmaker visiting from Tokyo. Nari, a working actress living in New York City. The two reunite after a year apart only to discover that living in different hemispheres has affected their relationship. One day, free-spirited Han Chul travels to Berlin on a job assignment, only to return to New York City and discover that Nari had left to Korea to star in a new film. Han’s nomadic lifestyle leads him back to Korea… with the wind in his hair and the ground beneath his feet is now solid. He has returned, and one could ask of him: “Have you changed?”

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/429478972

da-dzma

by Jaro Minne North America Premiere (15:25) 

Winter. A fifteen-year-old girl in a remote Georgian village tries to get closer to her older brother, just as he decides to leave home in search for work abroad.

gyopo

by Samuel Kiehoon Lee NY Premiere (1:35:00) 

A Gyopo is defined as a person of Korean descent that has been raised abroad. Often feeling like the outsider as the “Asian person”, many Gyopos make the pilgrimage to Korea, only to find that they are also outsiders in the country that gave birth to their parents. These third culture kids are a new “lost generation”–expatriates with no real center or direction. We follow an ensemble cast of Gyopos as they spend a typical day in the life of Seoul. A cross between PLAYTIME and DAZED AND CONFUSED, these Gyopos get drunk, laugh, fall in love, and get into fist fights. Taking place over a span of 24 hours, these stories interweave with each other as we follow one character to the next. They are a clan of well-educated 20 and 30-somethings, all suffering from some form of identity issue.

Several interweaving stories about an eclectic mix of English speaking Korean expats living in Seoul. Shot with no script and no crew, and starring a cast of 50 characters, GYOPO is an energetic and inventive portrait of people who find themselves immersed in but apart from Korean culture.

*Mature Content*

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/282166133 

in sync

by Eddie Shieh (5:00) 

A young couple walk a fine line while thriving in an open marriage until they catch each other breaking their own rules.

IN SYNC was created for the 2019 Asian American Film Lab 72 Hour Shootout under the theme, Balancing Act. As a frequent participant of 72 hour festivals, I find these events as the best way for a filmmaker to exercise their problem-solving and execution under a ticking clock. However as a father of twin toddlers, time and sleep are your most precious gifts on top of the trust of your cast and crew who are lending their passions and talents. The pressure to deliver was definitely on. But thanks to a wonderful assembly of personalities and chemistry (that was IN SYNC), teamwork made the dream work. We hope audiences come away with as much pleasure and enjoyment as we did