short fix: Dol (First Birthday)
20 Years of Project Involve: short by Andrew Ahn
This week’s short fix comes from Project Involve Fellow Andrew Ahn. Dol (First Birthday) is a deeply personal look at a gay Korean-American man who, after attending his baby nephew’s ‘dol’ (a traditional Korean first birthday party), finds himself yearning for a life just out of reach.
Says writer/director/producer/editor Ahn about the poignant film:
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.”
In addition to being an official selection at this year’s LA Film Fest, Outfest, Sundance and a host of other festivals, Dol (First Birthday) has won the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Narrative Short Film at Outfest, and the Jury Award for Best Narrative Short Film at Polari: Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 2012.
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November 7th, 2012 • No Comments
