SYNOPSIS
13-year-old Andrew Chong plays on his town's travel baseball team. Growing up surrounded by white faces, Andrew makes jokes at his own expense to find approval from his compatriots. He constantly jokes with one of his few friends on the team, Zach. Additionally, Andrew pushes away his parents, specifically the baseball tips from his overbearing, super-passionate father, Hao.
One particular day, Andrew is finally inserted into the starting lineup. He comes up to the plate and is met with an animalistic cheer from Hao in the bleachers, pronouncing his name "An-De-Lu". Andrew quickly falls behind with two swings and misses. As he readies his last swing, he hears laughter coming from the opposing team’s dugout. One player starts to hurl racist jokes at Andrew, making fun of his father's pronunciation of Andrew and his last name. Andrew freezes, unable to react. It crescendos until his father Hao screams from the stands, cheering in Chinese, coming to his aid.
Director: Alan He
Language: English
Duration: 12 MINS
Year: 2024
Genre: COMING OF AGE
FILM DETAILS
SCREENING DETAILS
Date: Saturday - October 19, 2024
Time: 4:05 PM
Venue: Cinemark Theater
1670 US-22, Watchung, NJ 07069
IN COMBINED BLOCK:
About the Director
Alan He is a writer, director and award-winning producer based in New York, NY. He has produced several films with White Rhino Productions, such as 'Sonder', 'Red Skies', and most recently 'Evergreen', having garnered selections and awards at NFFTY, the London International Film Festival, Short of the Week, and more.
Born and raised in Westchester, NY, Alan's work combines the films he and his family assimilated through and the coming-of-age stories of Asian Americans growing up in modern-day America. Alan recently graduated from New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
Taking from his baseball and sports background, Alan's writer and directorial debut film "Ān-dé-lǔ" is entering the festival circuit.