Family

Front Cover is about a gay New York City fashion stylist, Ryan, who detests and rejects his Asian upbringing. He is given an assignment to style Ning, a foreign actor, for an important photo shoot. After a rocky start, an unlikely friendship develops between them leading Ryan to examine his identity and make a major decision about an enticing new path for his life and career.

Like many first generation immigrants, David Cho serves as the intermediary between his parents’ insular Koreatown life in Los Angeles. When the family restaurant is forced to close, the balance of the household is threatened and tension mounts at home. In an unfamiliar twist on more familiar immigrant stories, David does not accept his parents’ dreams for him to pursue an education and decides to help his family make ends meet by secretly taking a job at a Korean spa. There, David finds himself suddenly exposed to the clash between traditional Korean culture and the underground world of gay hook-ups.

17 year-old Naama Barash enjoys alcohol, drugs and hanging out with like-minded friends. Her activities are an escape from a home where her parents always fight, and a rebellious, army-enrolled sister, who, one day, disappears. As a new girl shows up at school, Barash falls deep in love for the first time, and the intensity of the experience at once confuses her and gives her life new meaning.

The Priestess Walks Alone is a journey, our journey. As a priestess, through chants and prayers during the “Soul Guiding” ceremony, my mom helps the dead achieve salvation, but she is bound to her painful past, unable to free herself. As a filmmaker, using images and sounds that unfold on the screen, I tell stories for the voiceless, yet I’m muted by a shameful secret, afraid to reveal the truth. With different mediums, caught between the living and the dead, as the past and present collide, my mom and I embark on a journey, attempting to find our salvation.