Zotfest

Hello Summer Anteaters

Have you heard of the Sundance award winning film G**K?

G**K will be opening in Los Angeles on August 18th and will be expanding to more cities nationwide on August 25th, including Irvine at the Regal University Town Center.

Below is a synopsis of the film, followed by the trailer:

SYNOPSIS

Eli and Daniel, two Korean American brothers who own a struggling women's shoe store, have an unlikely friendship with 11-year-old Kamilla. On the first day of the 1992 L.A. riots, the trio must defend their store—and contemplate the meaning of family, their personal dreams and the future

DIRECTORS STATEMENT

Over the past several years, there has been a lot of talk about diversity, but that's all it has been, TALK. As an artist, I believe that my true contribution to the issue of diversity is to create films I feel are important to the Asian American narrative. So for the past few years, my mantra has been create, create, create.

While I was developing G**K, I asked myself what was important that I represent. First and foremost, I wanted to show regular guys I knew growing up. The 2 brothers in the film are simply blue collar working class Korean Americans with no ambitions other than to survive and make a living for themselves. They have no aspirations to run a Fortune 500 company, no desire to go to an ivy league or make enough to live in the suburbs. I grew up with many of these guys, yet in traditional media, Asian Americans are portrayed as being great students, intelligent, and very skilled at math. HAHA. While those traits are amazing, they do not represent the entirety of our community.

Through this project, I was able to represent two of the most underrepresented minorities in film...Asian American men and African American females. When I had the choice of either making my lead character a male or female, I found it to be a great opportunity to write in a resilient African American girl. My goal was to give the characters real wants and needs through three dimensional portrayals.

Another aspect traditional films don't address is the rift between the older and newer generations of Asian Americans. I wanted to show that even within our own ethnicities, we don't always get along. Hence the relationship between the boys and the liquor store owner across the street, Mr. Kim.

2017 is the 25th year anniversary of LA riots. It has been 25 years since the verdict of the Rodney King trial was read and things haven't gotten much better and in some ways, they have gotten worse. My father, Sang Chon, who plays Mr. Kim in the film, experienced the riots first hand. He had a store in Paramount, which was looted on the final day of the riots. I'm certain other films about the riots will be made, but I thought it was absolutely imperative that the Korean experience be told. Often times our struggle and loss during this event is not publicized and overlooked.

I feel it is my duty to honestly tell our story in a unique way and this is my contribution to what we Koreans experienced during those days in April 1992.

– Justin Chon

https://youtu.be/mmXVeH1lDjk

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If you haven't made a film but want to submit, trust me, there's still time.
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