Private Project

Penguins at North Pole

The biggest wish of Helen’s mom is to see her only daughter getting happily married with a perfect man. She suspects that Helen is seeing someone, but Helen never wants to say a thing. Helen’s mom has no choice but to hack into Helen’s Facebook to see what her daughter is doing. To her biggest surprise, she finds out that Helen is dating... a woman!?

Following this unexpected discovery, Helen’s mom decides to pretend to be open-minded about her daughter’s relationship. She plans to earn Helen’s trust first, and then try to change her daughter’s mind step by step. However, she soon realizes that her plan is not working out as she hoped...

  • Ching-Sung Liao
    Executive Producer
  • Yun Chiu
    Producer
  • Kassey C.M. Huang
    Director
  • Li-Wen Wang
    Screenplay
  • Wayne Lo
    Cinematographer
  • C.Y. Liao
    Gaffer
  • Sung-Ting Yang
    Location Audio Mixer
  • Lin Wu
    Production Designer
  • Summer Lin
    Costume Designer
  • Zhe-Hao Hsu, Kassey C.M. Huang, ChiuYun
    Editors
  • Yi-Chun Tsai
    Music
  • Runtime:
    29 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 1, 2013
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    Taiwan
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 2013 Kaohsiung Film Festival, Taiwan
    Kaohsiung
    October 18, 2013
  • Reeling 32: The Chicago LGBT International Film Festival
    Chicago
    September 20, 2014
    North American Premiere
  • Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
    Seattle, USA
Director Biography - Kassey C.M. Huang

Kassey C.M. Huang, was born in 1982 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Her earlier works were mostly in the form of experimental films, focusing on portraying the psychological profiles of women. She is adept at visualizing women’s intimate and unspeakable sentiments with images of tangible materials. In recent years, she has also begun to work as an editor. And in 2012, she tried for the first time to employ symbolism in feature films. Penguins at North Pole marks her debut narrative short film.

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Director Statement

"When we are pregnant, we would receive a 'New Mom's Guide.' It teaches us what to do when our baby has hiccups or suffers from jaundice. Years later we start reading articles on newspapers and magazines about how to have a conversation with our teenage children, or what to do when they bring their girlfriend or boyfriend home for a sleepover.
But no one ever teaches us what we should do if our children are gay."
-- by a mother of a gay son

This is not only a challenge for Helen’s mom, but also the challenges for many parents who have LGBT children in reality. What should they do when they find out about their children's secret? We are in a world that often discriminates and stigmatizes LGBT communities. It’s not difficult to imagine the tremendous hardship these parents will go through when they have to face something that has been discriminated against for so long, something that they can hardly understand.

Penguins at North Pole is a simple story with a strong message. We want all the parents to know that they are not the only ones facing these challenges. They are definitely not alone.

We are all learning how to love. This film is dedicated to all mothers and fathers out there with similar stories.