An actor and film director who grew up in Coquitlam and Port Moody will see the Vancouver premiere of his movie on Valentine’s Day.
Jerome Yoo will screen his award-winning feature flick Mongrels on Friday, Feb. 14 at the VIFF Centre (1181 Seymour St.) at 1 p.m.; Yoo’s début film also runs for late afternoon showings on Feb. 15, 16, 17 and 19 at the facility.
Split into three chapters, Mongrels looks back on the Korean immigrant experience in rural Canada in the 1990s (Yoo was born in Seoul).
The lens focuses on a Korean family made up of a widower, his teenage son and young daughter who navigate grief in a new country.
As dad Sonny (played by Joae-Hyun Kim) works for the city during the day to chase feral dogs, his son Hajoon (Da-Nu Nam) tries to understand what being a man means while Hana (Sein Jin of Coquitlam) dreams to return to Korea.
Shot in Maple Ridge, the movie had its international premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI prize as well as a special jury mention for its cast in the First Feature competition.
Last year, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Yoo earned the Director’s Guild of Canada’s Horizon Award for an emerging Canadian director.
Yoo became a filmmaker during a break from his studies at UBC.
He helped to create Gong Ju as part of the 2018 STORYHIVE digital shorts edition and directed the short Idols Never Die.
For tickets to see Mongrels, visit the VIFF Centre website.
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