Break Point

A friendly tennis match between siblings dredges up old grudges and highlights lost opportunities. The court is not the only place Dean and Kiara are at a break point.

  • Yeri Kim
    Director
  • Ashley Dean
    Writer
  • Yeri Kim
    Writer
  • Ethan McDonnell
    Producer
  • Popii Colbert
    Key Cast
    "Kiara"
  • Edward Daniels
    Key Cast
    "Dean"
  • Jennifer Esquivel
    Key Cast
    "Rachel"
  • Amy Nietes
    Director of Photography/Camera Operator
  • Harold Barbour
    Editor
  • Trisha Nguyen
    Art Department
  • Ciara Hutchinson
    G&E
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 10, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Virginia Commonwealth University
Director Biography - Yeri Kim

Yeri Kim is a first-generation Korean-American and aspiring writer-director whose mission is to explore the individuality and universality of the minority experience through film. Her quarantine short film “Unfinished Products” was selected as part of The Anderson Gallery’s “From a Distance, Near and Small” showcase in 2020. She is currently finishing her BA in Cinema at the Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts.

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Director Statement

It was in December 2020, well into the pandemic, when I wrote the short story concept that would later turn into “Break Point.” In hindsight, it was entirely reflective of what I had been writing about and experiencing for the past couple of years, namely nostalgia. Most of the time, we experience nostalgia as a pleasant, albeit bittersweet feeling. However, I didn’t realize that I had this genuine fear of growing older and becoming an “adult” that had been haunting and making itself known to me in my writing. That, coupled with spending the pandemic at home with my family, inclined me toward exploring how relationships within families change over time.

Ashley graciously took this concept and wrote the first drafts of “Break Point” before going on to work with me on later revisions. We explored the complexity of family dynamics as family members slowly grow into different versions of themselves as time passes. When I imagined the script coming to life, I pictured it in the still, meditative frames of Ozu. I wanted to capture the bittersweetness and ambiguity of relationships that are close – or, were once close – yet imperfect. This is something many people, especially college students, have had to reckon with as the pandemic has affected people’s living situations. I hope that our film will be a light to the people all across the globe who go through this human experience of growing older, wiser, and different.