Experiencing Interruptions?

Champion

It's 1997, and 9-year-old Jimin just moved to California. Jimin refuses to speak to her father who stayed behind in Korea, but when a major financial crisis devastates their home country, all hopes that he can join them in America dissipates. Now, Jimin must gather the courage to take the next steps alone.

  • Kim J.Y. Han
    Director
    Liberty (Executive Producer, Short), The Coin (Executive Producer, Short), Full Beat (Producer, Short), Everything I Know About Love (TV Exec, Peacock), Transplant (TV Exec, NBC)
  • Kim J.Y. Han
    Writer
    Liberty (Executive Producer, Short), The Coin (Executive Producer, Short), Full Beat (Producer, Short), Everything I Know About Love (TV Exec, Peacock), Transplant (TV Exec, NBC)
  • D.J. Jiang
    Producer
    Morning (Executive Producer; Feature film directed by Justin Kurzle; Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Laura Dern)
  • Diana Ward
    Producer
    Liberty (Producer, Short), Were You Gay In High School? (Producer, Short)
  • Erin Yoonsuh Choi
    Key Cast
    "Jimin"
    Smoking Tigers (Feature, Tribeca)
  • Jacob Hojin Kim
    Key Cast
    "Kiwoo"
    Nope (Feature, 2022)
  • Flora Jiwu Hwang
    Key Cast
    "Miran"
    Beef (TV, 2022)
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 9 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 14, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Korean
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Kim J.Y. Han

Kim J.Y. Han is a Korean American writer-director with a passion for socially conscious stories and pushing boundaries in genre or form. Prior to becoming an independent filmmaker, Han was a Manager of Scripted TV Programming at NBCUniversal. She was also a Creative Executive fellow with Film Independent Project Involve, where she produced several short films that premiered and won awards at major festivals, including Berlinale and SXSW. Han most recently shot Champion, a short film about a girl seeking to mend her broken heart after moving to California without her father.

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Director Statement

In 2001, I moved to California at seven years old with my mother and brother, while my father stayed behind in Korea to be a goose father. We went through so many trials and tribulations together– including living in cheap homestay and motels, being duped with a lemon car, and trying to make a new life while learning English. But the one struggle I remember most clearly was talking to my dad on the phone. I would burst into tears and run away just at the sound of his voice. It was months before I finally spoke to him again.

Despite how common goose families are within the Korean and greater Asian diaspora, the stories borne from it remain largely untold. Many immigrant stories focus on families overcoming obstacles together, but few illustrate the hardships that come with navigating them while apart. My hope is that the anguish, heartache, and early self-reliance I experienced as a result of a disconnected family can be used to shine a light on a new facet in the greater world of immigrant storytelling.

CHAMPION isn’t just a story about hardship, but rather one where resilience, bravery, and what it means to be a true family is put on trial. It’s a hopeful and universal tale about how a family moves forward in times of immense difficulty and finds enough strength in one another to carry them all forward. Through CHAMPION, I’m thrilled to finally share my story and help uplift and humanize our Asian American community.