KAFFNY 2025 Program

USA 2025, 25 min (US Premiere)

“Kodak Blues” is a narrative short film that centers around a Korean-American college student who has been left at home by her parents during the summer break. As she struggles to find things to do, she also feels the pressure to plan out the rest of her life.

CALEB CHONG

Caleb Chong is a Korean-American filmmaker that currently resides in Nashville, TN. Having grown up all over the world due to his parents’ occupation, Caleb pulls from his diverse background to tell what he feels are meaningful and poignant stories. Caleb has won various film festivals and has had his work featured in places like People Magazine. This is his directorial debut.

“Although there’s only one name listed as the director of this film, Kodak Blues was really made by two people: me in 2020, and me in 2025.”

USA 2025, 25 min (World Premiere)

The film follows Aya on the holy holiday of Eid as she grapples with her desire to make her own decisions about expressing her identities, while also longing to stay connected to her Arab community and family, which sometimes demands conformity.

ISABEL AHMED

Isabel Ahlam Ahmed is a Yemeni-American filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York, where she has lived for most of her life. She discovered her love for being behind the camera in her early teenage years, a passion she continued to pursue throughout high school and college. Her work primarily focuses on storytelling and human rights, specifically stories that often go untold, using film to connect individuals and communities to each other. She explores the importance of sharing these stories through both documentary and fictional narrative films as ways to create understanding and empathy towards underrepresented stories and lead to increased dialogue between and within those communities.

“I wanted to tell this story to capture the emotional struggle of deciding to step out of traditional expectations, a decision that is made difficult because of the love and admiration that these women have for their culture and community.”

USA 2024, 3 min

Fighting the metaphorical with the literal, H. Paul Moon’s film captures a small band of Bob’s friends voicing the poem in alternating identities, scored by composer David T. Little, for this meditative reflection on A.I. and the life cycle of the creative process.

H. PAUL MOON

H. Paul Moon is a filmmaker based in New York City whose works concentrate on the performing arts, including “Sitka: A Piano Documentary” about the craftsmanship of Steinway pianos, “Quartet for the End of Time” about Olivier Messiaen’s transcendent WWII composition, and an acclaimed feature film about the life and music of American composer Samuel Barber that premiered on PBS. Moon has created music videos for numerous composers including Moondog, Susan Botti and Angélica Negrón, and three opera films set in a community garden, along with “The Passion of Scrooge” awarded “Critic’s Choice” by Opera News. His films have been screened to live audiences at over two hundred film festivals around the world, with several awards and museum exhibitions. Highlights include works featured in exhibitions at the Nevada Museum of Art, the City Museum of New York, the Venice Biennale, and the Corcoran Gallery, along with PBS television broadcasts, and best of show awards in over a dozen international film festivals.

USA 2025, 12 min

This documentary short follows artist Hyeree Ro as she mines memories of road trips with her father and processes his recent passing through a new body of work, Niro (2024), a sculptural installation and series of performances that universalizes her own personal experiences of estrangement, loss, and memory.

ANDREA YU-CHIEH CHUNG

Andrea Yu-Chieh Chung is a Taiwanese nonfiction filmmaker based in New York City. Born into a family full of wanderers, she has lived and produced films across four continents and is passionate about telling stories of people who are in between places. Andrea’s films have been recognized by Vimeo Staff Picks and screened at festivals around the world, including
the AmDocs Film Festival, the Sharjah Film Platform, and the London International Documentary Festival. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University and is currently an Associate Producer at Art21.

“Throughout the making of this film, Hyeree and I had many discussions about the meaning and challenges of making autobiographical work, and while we didn’t come to any conclusion, I knew I wanted the film to have the same quality of vulnerability and honesty that flows through Hyeree’s work.”

USA 2024, 15 min (East Coast/NY Premiere)

A depressed male sex worker learns how to open up – the hard way.

YEAJOON CHO

Yeajoon (Joon) Cho is a writer & filmmaker born in Seoul, Korea and raised between Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Idaho whose work has screened at notable festivals globally. He has received distinctions from the Academy Nicholl, the Black List, the Sundance Cultural Impact Residency, and was the winner of the 2025 Humanitas Carol Mendelsohn Drama Award. Previously, he was 1 of 4 directors selected for ColorCreative’s inaugural FindYourPeople Fellowship Program, where his film was executive produced by Issa Rae, and premiered at the 2025 Pan African Film Festival. He is an alumnus of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts Graduate Film & Television Production Program as a recipient of the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award and the Bridges & Larson Directing Award. Currently, he is a Michener Fellow, posthumously sponsored by Pulitzer Prize winning author James Michener. He is based between Austin, TX and Los Angeles, CA, where he is in post-production for his feature documentary CARBONDALE, 1999.

“Sometimes, I Wish I Was a Fish,” is a bittersweet film about how a closed off man learns to open up, finding meaning in love and strength in emotional vulnerability. That said, it’s a whimsical film meant to destigmatize conversations around mental health, centering the narrative around a Korean man to emphasize the rampant stigmas regarding said conversations in Asian cultures.”

USA 2024, 14 min

A filmmaker attempts to piece together who her grandmother is through family memory and archives.

AUDREY SONG

“Hi! I’m Audrey. My pronouns are she/her and I’m sixteen years old. I’m so excited to explore new forms of filmmaking; I’ve never made a documentary before and I’m so ready to try it out! In my free time, I love walking my rabbit which usually just consists of me carrying him to a patch of grass and letting him run around on a leash. Maybe I’ll make a documentary about him one day.”

USA 2025, 14 min

In 1996, a Vietnamese-American kid named Ái Vân from San Jose, California is adopted by their paternal immigrant grandparents in Vancouver, Washington. On their journey, Ái Vân processes their identity, the unspoken rules of complex social dynamics and discovers the reality of letting go.

SUMMER LUU

Summer Luu (she/they) is a Vietnamese-American film director, producer, cinematographer and editor based in Portland, Oregon. Their work has a candid, verité style of approach. Drawing creative inertia from personal experiences, their passion is to connect and collaborate with individuals on a liberated and unbound artistic level. Seeking to bring joy, equality and authenticity to all. Inspired by the truth and obsessed with documenting real life and the human condition.

“This is a love letter to my grandparents for showing me, early on, the complexities and layers of love. The story came to me when my father passed away from colon cancer in January 2020 and I was visiting my grandmother more often. The recollection of memories of my family mixed with grief and trauma paved way to take a deeper look into the processing of trauma.”

USA 2024, 98 min (East Coast/NY Premiere)

Three foreign-born adoptees of various ages attempt to forge stronger ties with their American families with the help of novel, sometimes controversial therapies. Shot over a decade by one of the subjects, an adoptee filmmaker, the documentary explores the building blocks of human connection, the primacy of early care, and the role of parents in their journey to create a sense of a family in their adoptive homes.

JOY DIETRICH

Joy Dietrich (Director/Producer/Editor) is an award-winning filmmaker who explores themes of adoption, identity, and cultural displacement in the Asian diaspora. Her documentary and fiction films have been screened at international film festivals and museums and broadcast on PBS, earning her multiple director and best film awards. Her experience growing up in America’s heartland as an adoptee born in Korea has shaped her identity and multicultural perspective. A self-taught filmmaker with an advanced degree in international relations, she began her career as a journalist, honing her skills interviewing public figures and notable individuals at The New York Times, where she was a staff editor for 13 years. She is currently releasing her new feature documentary, “Attachment Project” about three foreign-born adoptees’ journeys bonding with their American families.

“Much work needs to be done to destigmatize mental health care and raise awareness of the challenges that we adoptees face.”

KOREA 2024, 118 min

Hyo-won, who dreams of becoming an actress, runs away from country home with Eun-seo. Hyo-won starts taking acting lessons from leading actor Su-yeon to become a member of the theater company. Eun-seo starts to work at a shabby restaurant when Hyo-won’s lesson fee is urgent.

CHANHO LEE

Lee, Chan-ho was born in South KOREA in 1981. He graduated from Dongguk University with a degree in Film Studies and completed his Master’s coursework at the same university. He has directed numerous short films.
Chan-ho‘s recent feature film <Water Lilies> was selected for festivals such as the 30th Kolkata International Film Festival and the 47th Moscow International Film.
In addition, Water Lilies has been officially invited to numerous film festivals worldwide and has garnered around 20 awards.

“Water Lilies is, on a broader level, a story about the glass ceiling faced by the younger generation. Many young people strive to realize their dreams, only to find themselves up against immense and invisible barriers. The workings of power, laced with human selfishness, may be creating walls that feel insurmountable to them.”

USA 2024, 19 min (Manhattan Premiere)

Haider, a Bengali Muslim taxi driver faces the reality that the American Dream may never be his. Grueling hours, rude customers, a collapse in medallion values in New York City and suicides among fellow drivers continually chip away at his hope for the future. Under this backdrop, crisis spills into his family life as his child, Shoshi, is consumed by a struggle: a desire to live life fully as man in a transphobic immigrant culture. His relationship with his transgender son challenges his past views on LGBTQ issues, forcing him to confront prejudice in his community to protect the child he loves.

RAZID SEASON

Born in Abu Dhabi & raised in Dhaka, Razid Season is a Bengali filmmaker based in New York. He is the founder of a non-profit, Image Maker Films Inc. Besides, he has worked as a freelance project evaluator for POV. He was an invited jury at the Plural+ Youth Film Festival 2022, run by UNAOC and IOM. He has received several awards for his films, including the Lawrence and Danielle Nyman award (2018 & 2019), the Best Director award from SAIFF 2020, Honourable Mention from Columbus Jewish Film Festival 2020, and ISA Los Angeles. His films have premiered at the 43rd Asian American Film Festival in New York, the Buffalo International Film Festival, the Williamsburg International Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Polish Film Festival. His film premiered on CUNY TV, Yiddishkayt Initiative, and The Archeological Channel’s web streaming. 

“I personally volunteered for hundreds of transgender youth who were going through their crisis, and I also volunteered for Yellow and Green Cab taxi drivers in New York City, many of them were people of color, and some of them faced bankruptcy due to crashing taxi medallion values in New York City. My goal was to highlight the impacted minorities, those who have rarely found space in the mainstream of our capitalist American society.”

USA 2024, 6 min

Eunhee struggles to care for her ill mother, Young-ja, who loves only her son and refuses to go to the hospital with her. This pattern has persisted throughout Eunhee’s life. After Young-ja’s death, Eunhee grapples with mixed emotions towards her mother. She gradually encounters her feelings as she talks with David, a cleaner from the ‘Grief Cleaning’ service. In the end, she finds herself mourning after discovering a note from her mother hidden behind a photo.

MINSEO KWON

Minseo Kwon is a graduate student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and studied BFA Media Art Production at Emerson College. She’s passionate about directing, producing, and editing films that explore social phenomena through emotional and thought-provoking storytelling. Her recent works include The Stranger, which she wrote and directed to examine grief and family dynamics. Rooted in her Korean identity, Minseo aspires to enhance representation in global cinema by creating films entirely in Korean, bringing both intimacy and diversity to the screen.

“During my grandmother’s funeral, I was in the U.S., and struggling to find a job as an international student made me feel distant from family and home. I aimed to create a space to explore death’s themes- not merely as an end but as a reflection on life, loss, meaning, and family.”

USA 2025, 11 min

Inspired by true stories, an emergency doctor struggling under the weight of life and death decisions must confront his own hidden traumas as he teaches a young medical student what it truly means to save a life.

JAMON TOLBERT

Jamon Tolbert is a Director/DP based in Los Angeles, California. Although his commercial work as a cinematographer has seen clients like Meta, Microsoft and Wells Fargo, Jamon takes pride in directing ambitious and visually unique narrative projects. He has screened his films internationally and continues to win awards across the country. A passion for connecting with an audience serves as his driving force to create meaningful and imaginative stories.

“When I first met Andy Chu (Writer/Actor), one thing was always clear. We’re not just telling a medical story. With the many years spent as an emergency doctor himself, Andy infused something special into this story — truth. A man who, through his work, discovers his humanity. The emotional beats will reflect the universal struggle we all face: how to open up, how to connect, and how to be vulnerable in a world that often demands we be strong and unyielding.”

USA 2024, 20 min (East Coast/NY Premiere)

Korean-American sisters and classical musicians, Viv and Gia, struggle to practice a piano and violin duet, as their mother May, reminds them about the importance of harmony. Their bond is tested as adulthood brings conflicting priorities—Gia pursues her musical dreams while Viv chooses to care for their ailing mother. As their mother’s condition suddenly deteriorates, they must overcome their growing resentment in order to find reconciliation through music.

EIJIN YOO

Jinoo Eljin Yoo is a Korean-American writer, director, editor, and violinist, with a B.A. in Film & TV Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Born in the heart of Los Angeles, but nurtured amidst the dynamic landscape of Dubai, Eljin imparts a unique blend of cultures to his storytelling, revolving around crafting subtle portraits of mysterious worlds, realities, and characters that pulse with visual and narrative poetry, interwoven with ardent social themes that provoke thought in a lyrical manner.

“For all my life, I wanted to pursue violin. Encouraged by my mother at the tender age of five, no other passion was as strong as my musical ambition. That is, right up until college applications. Faced with a decision that I had to make, I froze. Yet, like Viv in Sonata, I was able to coalesce my two passions. I came to realize that I am as much of a musician as I am a filmmaker. Alongside my unwavering passion for directing, the inherent musicality from my childhood has never left me.”

USA 2024, 4 min

“Last Breath on Earth” follows Clara as she embraces thoughts of spirituality, afterlife, and loneliness in the aftermath of her mother’s death. Equipped with a new sense of loneliness, she traverses the landscape of the old neighborhoods and stores she used to come to as a child. Dealing with themes of loss, grief, and Asian-American diaspora – we see Clara come into her own acceptance towards the end of the film.”

KEVIN V. DOAN

Kevin V. Doan is a filmmaker and photographer based in New York City where he specializes in the creation of media in the narrative space working primarily with musicians, brands, and magazines as well as social media video content in the Broadway circuit. His narrative work appears in and has screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Orlando Film Festival, Paris Film Festival, and more, whereas his social media content has accrued over 3 million+ views across platforms. Most recently his film took home Best Dramatic Film at the New York Short Film Festival.

“The making of this film was inspired by the death of my grandfather. And the feeling that I think is quite universal where in the weeks following a family member’s death, you still feel their presence – in the slow moments.”

USA 2024, 8 min

In 1990s New York, three young Asian American artists built their own creative refuge — a weekly lunch gathering called The Tuesday Lunch Club. Thirty years later, they reunite to relaunch it, revisiting the art, friendship, and identity that shaped their lives. Blending memory, humor, and reflection, ‘Tuesday Lunch Club’ explores how community can sustain artists across generations.

KEEHO KANG

Keeho Kang is a Korean American filmmaker based in New York City whose work explores identity, memory, and the intersections of art and community. Rooted in a background of visual storytelling and documentary practice, Keeho focuses on intimate, character-driven narratives that bridge personal and cultural histories. ‘Tuesday Lunch Club’ marks his latest exploration of Asian American artistry and belonging.

Korea 2024, 15 min

Moonsook, who was adopted as a child into an American family, returns home to care for her mother with dementia, only to find out her brother Mike has placed her in a nursing home. Despite Moonsook’s attempts to reach him, Mike insists their mother is fine and shouldn’t be contacted. Moonsook later discovers her mother’s wish to stay in the nursing home, leaving her feeling upset and longing for her mother’s presence.

KEEYONG HONG

Keeyong Hong, a versatile artist from South Korea, has captivated audiences worldwide, including the Romania International Theater Festival, Singapore International Theater Festival, and Seoul Performing Arts Festival.

Now based in New York, he shines as an actor, director, and writer. With a decade of experience honing his craft in Korea, Keeyong embarked on a transformative journey to the United States eight years ago to pursue his artistic aspirations.

“Witnessing my abandoned grandmother in a wheelchair, my despairing mother, who had tirelessly cared for her, and my uncle, a son who could perpetrate such actions, prompted me to reflect on the essence of parent-child relationships and the true meaning of family.”

USA 2025, 87 min

Terry Kim is painter who decides to make a film about his struggles trying to be a painter in a world that doesn’t value art in the way he feels that it should. Hilarity and tragedy ensues.

TERRY KIM

Terry Kim watched Pulp Fiction when he was twelve and decided he wanted to make movies. After high school he attempted to do this but found out that it’s way harder than he thought so he put a pin in that and took up oil painting for a while. Once DSLR video became a thing he decided to take another whack at being a film maker. This attempt didn’t work out either because he still lacked the necessary skills and resources. He got a job managing a restaurant for a number of years and saved up as much money as he could to take one more stab at being a film maker. He recently completed his first feature film, “Ice Cream Castles,” and hopefully for him it’s good enough to get him over the hump.

“In hindsight, deciding to put all your chips in on a movie about myself
starring myself as myself is a pretty goofy idea, but once I settled into it, I
really liked the artistic possibilities that it allowed.”