Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts

Death Name(en)

A young Korean American woman yearns to learn more about her heritage, not knowing the further she digs, the more she reawakens a deadly family curse.

Bedford Park(en)

Two souls collide: a Korean American woman struggling with family expectations and her own aspirations, and an ex-wrestler haunted by his past. Their paths unexpectedly cross, leading to a transformative journey.

White Rabbit(en)

A dramatic comedy following a Korean American performance artist who struggles to be authentically heard and seen through her multiple identities in modern Los Angeles.

California Love(en)

Leon Watkins runs a community helpline in South Central LA, where anyone in need of help is welcome. One of his most frequent visitors is local gang leader, John Wesley Hunter, otherwise known as “Joker” to the streets. After a day of hustling and almost losing his life in a shoot-out, Joker goes to the one place where he knows he can get help. All in a typical day’s work for Leon until an unlikely woman shows up insisting on aiding him in his fight for his community. This unlikely team defies social constructs by working together to actively fight oppression and gain nation-wide recognition for a hidden reality of many. Along their way they experience the deep-seeded hatred that has plagued America, great love, and tragedy as they leave behind a legacy.

Se Shin Sa(en)

"Se Shin Sa" is a hybrid of fiction and documentary portraying an undocumented immigrant woman living and working as a masseuse in Korean town, L.A.

Neh(en)

On a date, a young Korean-American attempts to hide an embarrassing secret.

Abandoned(en)

A Los Angeles newspaperman seeks a woman's sister and finds a black-market baby ring.

Straight Outta Compton(en)

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

Past Lives(en)

After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.

Reparation(en)

Two semi-studious students living in 'Korea-Town' are interrupted & intrigued by the actions of a girl in a nearby building, witnessed via CCTV, whilst each trying to come to terms with important subjects in their university projects [one Korean related: the Sewol ferry tragedy, and one British: the Grenfell tower incident], as well as their own life challenges in this claustrophobic tragicomedy of alienation, helping hands & secretive students. Is all really what it seems?

West 32nd(ko)

When John Kim, an ambitious young lawyer, takes on a pro bono case to exonerate a fourteen-year-old boy from a first degree murder charge, he finds a world he never knew existed in the underbelly of Manhattan - the Korean underworld.

In Between Days(ko)

A Korean immigrant falls in love with her best friend while navigating her way through the challenges of living in a new country.

Ode to My Father 2(ko)

Smoking Tigers(en)

Set in early-2000s SoCal, Smoking Tigers follows a Korean American girl as she navigates derision and growing tensions while balancing the duality of her low-income family and wealthy, elite high school environment.

I Hate Big Phony(en)

For all intents and purposes, 2015 was seemingly a banner year for singer/songwriter Bobby Choy (aka Big Phony). His melodic and quiet songs had garnered him a following as he performs at SXSW while also starring in his first feature film. However, returning back to the States from living abroad in S. Korea - has he made the right decisions in life, professionally and personally? Is he his own worst enemy?

The Sun Is Also a Star(en)

Two young New Yorkers begin to fall in love over the course of a single day, as a series of potentially life-altering meetings loom over their heads - hers concerning her family’s deportation to Jamaica, and his concerning an education at Dartmouth.

Fiction and Other Realities(en)

Bobby, a Korean-American singer-songwriter who tries to find himself in a country his parents originally immigrated from. Featuring the music of singer-songwriter Big Phony, this music centered film takes us on a search for love and self-identity.

Talk to Her(ko)

Sean is a Korean-American aspiring filmmaker who came to Korea with dreams of becoming the next BONG Joon Ho. Hyejeong, a budding actress who faced numerous challenges studying acting in the United States, struggled to succeed in Korea. Despite their vastly different paths, they still hold onto their dreams.

Free Chol Soo Lee(en)

On June 3, 1973, a man was murdered in a busy intersection of San Francisco’s Chinatown as part of an ongoing gang war. Chol Soo Lee, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who had previous run-ins with the law, was arrested and convicted based on flimsy evidence and the eyewitness accounts of white tourists who couldn’t distinguish between Asian features. Sentenced to life in prison, Chol Soo Lee would spend years fighting to survive behind bars before journalist K.W. Lee took an interest in his case. The intrepid reporter’s investigation would galvanize a first-of-its-kind pan-Asian American grassroots movement to fight for Chol Soo Lee’s freedom, ultimately inspiring a new generation of social justice activists.

Blind Stitch(en)

A struggling Tailor makes ends meet as an underground surgeon but is caught between a gang war.