Sparkle Motion Films presents in association with Don’t Believe Jack Productions: ZERO ONE: A Story of Queer Asian Coming of Age
ZERO ONE logline
All futures lead us home. A direct sequel to the award-winning short film, ULTRA BLEU: When Jimmy Park visits home for the first time in years, he’s forced to make peace with the ghost of who he could have been.
ZERO ONE synopsis
ZERO ONE tells the next chapter in the story of 20something + lost, Jimmy Park. Jim’s visiting home for the first time in four years, and is deeply questioning the choices he has made with his life. Both his dysfunctional family and his own generation’s inability to foster intimacy only serve to further his sense of disconnect. And to make matters worse, he is met with the unsettling feeling that the city he once called home, is now a strange land. Feeling like everyone around him is breezing through life and he somehow missed the train, his mounting frustrations finally culminate in an explosive New Year’s Eve dinner with his father and homophobic sister, Claire. However, ZERO ONE, ultimately ends on a bittersweet note of hope, redemption and rebirth when Jim finds an old dream packed away in his childhood room. All futures lead us home.
DIRECTOR’S statement
“Growing up with an Asian mother, even in NYC, was still usually imbued with some sense of compunction. I would feel embarrassment towards introducing my mother to strangers or even friends. This was due to an upbringing in which there were no Asian faces in the Media (except for martial arts experts) and a subtle racism that seemed to disregard the Asian experience. It probably didn’t help that most people couldn’t tell I was half-Korean. America, in particular, has a strangely complacent relationship with Asians. Asians don’t make waves, but we’re also not seen as very ‘American.’
Latinos and African-Americans have fought for increased sensitivity/visibility and have made huge strides, while Asians still remain “foreign.” In 2018, there is still a very limited space in which mainstream media allows for an Asian man or woman to portray a typical American profession or experience without their race informing everything about that particular character or story. With Zero One, my intentions are plain but impassioned: Make an unapologetically Asian-American film with queer leanings. A direct sequel to my award-winning short, Ultra Bleu, Zero One is set in NYC, where we meet Jim’s Korean father and his half-Korean sister. These characters do not cater to what Americans expect Asians to look like or act. Loosely based on my own life, I make this film with the hopes that it will contribute to a space filled with more authentic Queer + Asian voices.
Initially, Ultra Bleu was supposed to evolve into a feature film. But the inceptive driving force of the story had, over two years of touring and promoting, cooled off. The only two elements that remained were the character of Jimmy Park and my own current circumstances to draw from. So instead of try to relive the past, I chose to explore my personal experience as it stands today. Zero One follows a lost youth trying to come to terms with his own self worth in a world moving faster than ever before. It is about finding hope and redemption within family and old dreams long forgotten. It is about starting all over from zero. This film comes from a very personal place. And I have no doubt that, together, we can help shape the future of the Asian-American experience on the big screen by supporting films like Zero One.
Team ZERO
While acquiring the crew for this film, we were very aware of the opportunity to put our money where our mouth was in terms of diversity, not only in front of the camera, but also behind the scenes. And it makes us very proud to announce that over 80% of key crew positions on ZERO ONE are Asian, queer, and/or female.
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