Spa Hookups, Korean Parents, And Coming Out On Screen: Q&A With Filmmaker Andrew Ahn

[MerryBlooms]

I remember catching Andrew Ahn's short film Dol (First Birthday) at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in 2012. Having attended a few dol parties myself, I was familiar with the intimate cultural milieu of Ahn's film about a Korean-American family celebrating a child's milestone first birthday: the adorable little boy dressed in traditional costume, the dining table laden with Korean dishes, and, after the meal, the mat spread on the floor before the child, strewn with objects representing his future career paths. If he grabs the pen, he's meant to become a scholar; if he goes for the cash, he'll be a business mogul.

Ahn's protagonist in Dol, the young uncle of the birthday boy, is gay. Before the party, his boyfriend dutifully wraps a gift for the nephew, but understands that he isn't invited to celebrate with the family. Dol is a heartbreaking study in the tensions of a divided life. The film's protagonist, while not exactly joyless, quietly suffers a stifled existence in which his Korean-American and gay identities can't fully intersect. When the lights came up in the theater for the post-screening Q&A, I hastily wiped away tears.

An MFA graduate in film from the California Institute of the Arts, Ahn, 29, is now at work on his first feature-length narrative, Spa Night. The film treads similar ground as Dol, in that Ahn is once again exploring Korean-American and queer identities. This time, he'll give audiences a view into the underground culture of gay hookups in Korean spas in Los Angeles. I chatted with Ahn about life after Dol, which screened at more than 30 festival venues and won the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at Outfest: LA, and the inspiration and research behind Spa Night.

You actually cast members of your family in Dol. What was that like?

I had to cast my family because there was no way, with my resources, that I would be able to find a cast of 15 Korean actors. So, in that sense it was necessary. But it was also difficult because I didn't tell them what the film was about. They had no idea. In Dol, the main character is gay. The drama of the film is that he can't figure out how his gay and Korean identities live together. It was a bit of an ethical dilemma: to invite my family into the film, but not tell them what it's about.

http://www.npr.org/2015/10/06/440549964/spa-hookups-korean-parents-and-coming-out-on-screen-q-a-with-filmmaker-andrew-ah?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202506

Lovely man.

[KamaAina]

1. My favorite Korean-American is LGBT.

I think I'll run this by her.