The Reunion
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Family
A Korean American adoptee meets her biological mother in Seoul for the first time, but the reunion plays out twice. First shallow, then devastating. Only when they sit in silence, unable to speak the same language, do they finally connect.
The Reunion
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Family
129 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$18,998
Goal: $20,000 for production
A Korean American adoptee meets her biological mother in Seoul for the first time, but the reunion plays out twice. First shallow, then devastating. Only when they sit in silence, unable to speak the same language, do they finally connect.
Participating In
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Julia, a Korean American adoptee, travels to Seoul to meet her biological mother for the first time. In a sterile government office, the reunion plays out twice.
First, her mother is emotional yet evasive, the connection shallow and performative. Then the scene resets. This time her mother is silent, and in that silence Julia uncovers a deeper vulnerability. When the social workers leave and the two are alone, unable to understand each other's language, they finally speak from the heart. They leave with numbers exchanged and a plan to meet again.
After thirty years of searching, what do you say to the woman who gave birth to you when you are meeting her for the first time?
The Reunion is born from my own answer to that question when I met my biological mother in 2022.
The film plays twice. The first iteration is lighter, almost performative, a shallow connection masked by words. The second is quiet, painful, and ultimately more truthful, uncovering the depth that silence can hold.
For international adoptees, our history often begins the moment we are carried off a plane. No stories passed down. No embodied connection to blood kin. In childhood, I felt like a chameleon trying to blend into a family that did not look like me. My Korean side lived only in my imagination.
Film became the language I invented to articulate this fragmented history.
Like all my work, The Reunion delves into the transnational adoption system through a personal lens. When I finally met my biological mother, I had no agency. We met in a sterile government office, two social workers facilitating, the cold room betraying the weight of the moment.
By showing this meeting play out twice, I want the nuances of the adoptee experience to be felt, especially by other adoptees who see themselves in the silence. I am part of a growing body of artists disrupting the narrow tropes that have long limited our representation.
This is my first narrative film and my largest production to date, a proof of concept for a feature. I invite you to join us in bringing The Reunion to life.
I am drawn to films that trust their audiences. Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then uses repetition to reveal how the same encounter can yield different truths. Eliza Hittman's Never Rarely Sometimes Always finds profound drama in sterile waiting rooms. Alice Diop's Saint Omer turns the procedural into the deeply personal. These films share a belief that the most powerful emotions do not need to be underlined. They can be whispered.
The Reunion will be quiet, observational, and emotionally honest. The camera will hover at a respectful distance, capturing raw experience without intrusion. We will embrace the harsh reality of bad office lighting and muted institutional palettes. Long takes let emotion simmer beneath the surface. Close-ups arrive only when they mean something: a glance, a tremor, the weight of silence.
- Agonist Clothing
- Anthony Chun: Cartoonist
- Association of Korean Adoptees - Los Angeles
- Association of Korean Adoptees - San Diego
- Association of Korean Adoptees - San Francisco
- Cam Lee Smalls: MS, LPCC, Counselor, Advocate, TEDx Speaker
- Red Vintage Co
- Sundae School: Korean Inspired Streetwear
The Reunion marks my most ambitious project to date and my official step into narrative directing. In a media landscape where funding for authentic voices is increasingly scarce, your support does more than just make a film. It amplifies a perspective too often filtered through others. Your support ensures that on a three-day shoot this fall, we have the resources to honor this story with the care it deserves. As a Korean American adoptee and female filmmaker, I am on a mission to portray adoptees through a human lens defined by authenticity and specificity. Together, we can disrupt the outdated tropes and stereotypes that have defined us for too long.
Your support will fund:
- Crew
- Cast
- Meals
- Film stock
- Film scanning
- Film processing
- Equipment
- And more
STRETCH GOALS
$30,000 - This will unlock funding to help us pay for our location.
$40,000 - Post production funding that will cover the editing, sound design / mix, color correction, and music fees.
$50,000 - Audience engagement funds that will cover festival submission fees, promotion and distribution, and community screenings at adoptee organizations and cultural centers.
$60,000 - Better location options.
$70,000 - Better rates for cast & crew.
Here is how you can help bring The Reunion to life:
- Pledge today
- Follow the campaign here on seed & spark!
- Share on your social and link with two friends
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera Gear & Equipment
Costs $7,700
This includes camera gear rental, lighting, grip and drives.
Cast & Crew
Costs $9,900
Support our cast & crew who will be working modest indie rates across our three day production!
Transportation | Expendables
Costs $900
Pay for transport to haul our equipment around + small expendables.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Dahee Kim - Writer/director
Dahee Kim (b. 1988, Seoul, South Korea) is a transnational adoptee and filmmaker, raised in a white family and community in the suburbs of Minneapolis. Her work critically explores the complexities of identity within the transracial and transnational adoption experience.
Dahee has made three short films that deal with themes of adoption. Her films have been featured at prominent festivals including DOC NYC, Austin Film Festival, Punto de Vista, the Atlanta Film Festival, and the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.
In addition to her directorial work, Dahee is an experienced production and post-production sound professional. She served as a production sound mixer on JUST SING (directed by Abie Troen and Angelique Molina), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2025, and NEXT LIFE (directed by Tenzin Phuntsog), premiering at FIDMarseille in July 2025. Her sound editing credits include Cynthia Kao’s CAREFULLY TAUGHT (Bentonville Film Festival) and Elizabeth Lo’s MISTRESS DISPELLER (Venice Film Festival).
Dahee has also held leadership roles in festival programming and community engagement, including Program Director and Outreach Manager positions at the Duluth Superior Film Festival and the North x North International Film Festival. Prior to her film career, she gained five years of professional experience in digital marketing.
She holds an MFA in Film/Video from the California Institute of the Arts (2023). Dahee is the recipient of the 2021 Alison Doerner Fund for Women Pioneers in Filmmaking and the 2022 Allan Sekula Social Documentary Fund.
Christian Sprenger - Director of Photography
Christian Sprenger, ASC, is an award-winning cinematographer, widely praised for his unique visual style, from FX's Atlanta, to HBOMax's Station Eleven, Amazon Studios' Guava Island and Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Renowned for his long-form collaborations with director Hiro Murai, his journey as a cinematographer boasts an impressive three Emmy wins and six nominations for Outstanding Cinematography, as well as a 2023 ASC Award nomination. In addition to acting as the primary series cinematographer, he also produced the Amazon Original series Mr. & Mrs. Smith as well as the upcoming Apple+ series Widows Bay. In 2024, Christian was welcomed into the American Society of Cinematographers.
Mel Mah - Producer
Mel is a Chinese Canadian writer, director and producer from Toronto whose work has played at Cannes, NewFilmmakers LA, the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival, among others. She was a 2024 WIF Directing Fellow, the associate producer on Sony’s feature film BIG GEORGE FOREMAN and she’s currently developing her first feature film, a dramedy starring Ken Jeong. Mel is also a co-founder of Decorum, a production company that she runs with her producing partner Frances Rubio dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices in film. In addition to her cinematic work, Mel’s an internationally renowned yoga and meditation teacher and she was featured on THE TODAY SHOW in 2022. She’s the director of ANIVITA, an organization that empowers women through mindfulness, and she’s also an instructor on the Calm app where her videos have garnered over 1 million views.
Frankie Rubio - Producer
Frances “Frankie” Rubio is a first generation Filipino-American who has produced several short films, including Move In written and directed by Mel Mah and Maybe It’s Just the Rain, directed by Reina Bonta. In addition, she made her directorial debut with her short documentary called Recording for Dodie, which premiered on WORLD Channel/PBS in June 2022 and was part of a programming block called Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond, which was nominated for a Daytime Emmy. Frankie was a Women In Film (WIF) 2024 Creative Producing Fellow and a Gold House Futures and she also holds a MS from Columbia University. In 2022, she and her creative partner, Mel Mah founded Decorum, a production company dedicated to championing diverse perspectives through impactful storytelling.
Dusty Glasner - Impact Producer
Dusty Glasner (남궁수) is a transracial adoptee, scientist, and 아빠, born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in suburban New Jersey. He currently resides in San Diego and is the President of the Association of Korean Adoptees San Diego (AKASD), a group dedicated to serving and supporting Korean adoptees in and around San Diego. Dusty’s adoptee journey began in 2018 after reading Nicole Chung’s All You Can Ever Know while expecting the birth of his daughter. Since then, he has immersed himself in the adoptee community, traveled back to Seoul for the first time with G.O.A.’L.’s 2022 ReKorea motherland trip, and fully embraced his identity as part of the greater Korean diaspora. His goal is to amplify adoptee voices and stories while bridging the gap between the Korean adoptee and broader Korean American communities. He holds a PhD in Infectious Diseases & Immunity from the University of California, Berkeley, and has co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Amanda Bomster-Jabs - Graphic Designer
Amanda Bomster-Jabs (서소운) is a Korean American artist, writer, and designer. Born in South Korea and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, she currently lives in Los Angeles. Her work draws from her experiences as a Korean adoptee, including reunion with her birth family and navigating identity between cultures. She studied at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and Towson University in Maryland, where she earned a BFA in Illustration.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Julia, a Korean American adoptee, travels to Seoul to meet her biological mother for the first time. In a sterile government office, the reunion plays out twice.
First, her mother is emotional yet evasive, the connection shallow and performative. Then the scene resets. This time her mother is silent, and in that silence Julia uncovers a deeper vulnerability. When the social workers leave and the two are alone, unable to understand each other's language, they finally speak from the heart. They leave with numbers exchanged and a plan to meet again.
After thirty years of searching, what do you say to the woman who gave birth to you when you are meeting her for the first time?
The Reunion is born from my own answer to that question when I met my biological mother in 2022.
The film plays twice. The first iteration is lighter, almost performative, a shallow connection masked by words. The second is quiet, painful, and ultimately more truthful, uncovering the depth that silence can hold.
For international adoptees, our history often begins the moment we are carried off a plane. No stories passed down. No embodied connection to blood kin. In childhood, I felt like a chameleon trying to blend into a family that did not look like me. My Korean side lived only in my imagination.
Film became the language I invented to articulate this fragmented history.
Like all my work, The Reunion delves into the transnational adoption system through a personal lens. When I finally met my biological mother, I had no agency. We met in a sterile government office, two social workers facilitating, the cold room betraying the weight of the moment.
By showing this meeting play out twice, I want the nuances of the adoptee experience to be felt, especially by other adoptees who see themselves in the silence. I am part of a growing body of artists disrupting the narrow tropes that have long limited our representation.
This is my first narrative film and my largest production to date, a proof of concept for a feature. I invite you to join us in bringing The Reunion to life.
I am drawn to films that trust their audiences. Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then uses repetition to reveal how the same encounter can yield different truths. Eliza Hittman's Never Rarely Sometimes Always finds profound drama in sterile waiting rooms. Alice Diop's Saint Omer turns the procedural into the deeply personal. These films share a belief that the most powerful emotions do not need to be underlined. They can be whispered.
The Reunion will be quiet, observational, and emotionally honest. The camera will hover at a respectful distance, capturing raw experience without intrusion. We will embrace the harsh reality of bad office lighting and muted institutional palettes. Long takes let emotion simmer beneath the surface. Close-ups arrive only when they mean something: a glance, a tremor, the weight of silence.
- Agonist Clothing
- Anthony Chun: Cartoonist
- Association of Korean Adoptees - Los Angeles
- Association of Korean Adoptees - San Diego
- Association of Korean Adoptees - San Francisco
- Cam Lee Smalls: MS, LPCC, Counselor, Advocate, TEDx Speaker
- Red Vintage Co
- Sundae School: Korean Inspired Streetwear
The Reunion marks my most ambitious project to date and my official step into narrative directing. In a media landscape where funding for authentic voices is increasingly scarce, your support does more than just make a film. It amplifies a perspective too often filtered through others. Your support ensures that on a three-day shoot this fall, we have the resources to honor this story with the care it deserves. As a Korean American adoptee and female filmmaker, I am on a mission to portray adoptees through a human lens defined by authenticity and specificity. Together, we can disrupt the outdated tropes and stereotypes that have defined us for too long.
Your support will fund:
- Crew
- Cast
- Meals
- Film stock
- Film scanning
- Film processing
- Equipment
- And more
STRETCH GOALS
$30,000 - This will unlock funding to help us pay for our location.
$40,000 - Post production funding that will cover the editing, sound design / mix, color correction, and music fees.
$50,000 - Audience engagement funds that will cover festival submission fees, promotion and distribution, and community screenings at adoptee organizations and cultural centers.
$60,000 - Better location options.
$70,000 - Better rates for cast & crew.
Here is how you can help bring The Reunion to life:
- Pledge today
- Follow the campaign here on seed & spark!
- Share on your social and link with two friends
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera Gear & Equipment
Costs $7,700
This includes camera gear rental, lighting, grip and drives.
Cast & Crew
Costs $9,900
Support our cast & crew who will be working modest indie rates across our three day production!
Transportation | Expendables
Costs $900
Pay for transport to haul our equipment around + small expendables.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Dahee Kim - Writer/director
Dahee Kim (b. 1988, Seoul, South Korea) is a transnational adoptee and filmmaker, raised in a white family and community in the suburbs of Minneapolis. Her work critically explores the complexities of identity within the transracial and transnational adoption experience.
Dahee has made three short films that deal with themes of adoption. Her films have been featured at prominent festivals including DOC NYC, Austin Film Festival, Punto de Vista, the Atlanta Film Festival, and the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.
In addition to her directorial work, Dahee is an experienced production and post-production sound professional. She served as a production sound mixer on JUST SING (directed by Abie Troen and Angelique Molina), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2025, and NEXT LIFE (directed by Tenzin Phuntsog), premiering at FIDMarseille in July 2025. Her sound editing credits include Cynthia Kao’s CAREFULLY TAUGHT (Bentonville Film Festival) and Elizabeth Lo’s MISTRESS DISPELLER (Venice Film Festival).
Dahee has also held leadership roles in festival programming and community engagement, including Program Director and Outreach Manager positions at the Duluth Superior Film Festival and the North x North International Film Festival. Prior to her film career, she gained five years of professional experience in digital marketing.
She holds an MFA in Film/Video from the California Institute of the Arts (2023). Dahee is the recipient of the 2021 Alison Doerner Fund for Women Pioneers in Filmmaking and the 2022 Allan Sekula Social Documentary Fund.
Christian Sprenger - Director of Photography
Christian Sprenger, ASC, is an award-winning cinematographer, widely praised for his unique visual style, from FX's Atlanta, to HBOMax's Station Eleven, Amazon Studios' Guava Island and Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Renowned for his long-form collaborations with director Hiro Murai, his journey as a cinematographer boasts an impressive three Emmy wins and six nominations for Outstanding Cinematography, as well as a 2023 ASC Award nomination. In addition to acting as the primary series cinematographer, he also produced the Amazon Original series Mr. & Mrs. Smith as well as the upcoming Apple+ series Widows Bay. In 2024, Christian was welcomed into the American Society of Cinematographers.
Mel Mah - Producer
Mel is a Chinese Canadian writer, director and producer from Toronto whose work has played at Cannes, NewFilmmakers LA, the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival, among others. She was a 2024 WIF Directing Fellow, the associate producer on Sony’s feature film BIG GEORGE FOREMAN and she’s currently developing her first feature film, a dramedy starring Ken Jeong. Mel is also a co-founder of Decorum, a production company that she runs with her producing partner Frances Rubio dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices in film. In addition to her cinematic work, Mel’s an internationally renowned yoga and meditation teacher and she was featured on THE TODAY SHOW in 2022. She’s the director of ANIVITA, an organization that empowers women through mindfulness, and she’s also an instructor on the Calm app where her videos have garnered over 1 million views.
Frankie Rubio - Producer
Frances “Frankie” Rubio is a first generation Filipino-American who has produced several short films, including Move In written and directed by Mel Mah and Maybe It’s Just the Rain, directed by Reina Bonta. In addition, she made her directorial debut with her short documentary called Recording for Dodie, which premiered on WORLD Channel/PBS in June 2022 and was part of a programming block called Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond, which was nominated for a Daytime Emmy. Frankie was a Women In Film (WIF) 2024 Creative Producing Fellow and a Gold House Futures and she also holds a MS from Columbia University. In 2022, she and her creative partner, Mel Mah founded Decorum, a production company dedicated to championing diverse perspectives through impactful storytelling.
Dusty Glasner - Impact Producer
Dusty Glasner (남궁수) is a transracial adoptee, scientist, and 아빠, born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in suburban New Jersey. He currently resides in San Diego and is the President of the Association of Korean Adoptees San Diego (AKASD), a group dedicated to serving and supporting Korean adoptees in and around San Diego. Dusty’s adoptee journey began in 2018 after reading Nicole Chung’s All You Can Ever Know while expecting the birth of his daughter. Since then, he has immersed himself in the adoptee community, traveled back to Seoul for the first time with G.O.A.’L.’s 2022 ReKorea motherland trip, and fully embraced his identity as part of the greater Korean diaspora. His goal is to amplify adoptee voices and stories while bridging the gap between the Korean adoptee and broader Korean American communities. He holds a PhD in Infectious Diseases & Immunity from the University of California, Berkeley, and has co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Amanda Bomster-Jabs - Graphic Designer
Amanda Bomster-Jabs (서소운) is a Korean American artist, writer, and designer. Born in South Korea and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, she currently lives in Los Angeles. Her work draws from her experiences as a Korean adoptee, including reunion with her birth family and navigating identity between cultures. She studied at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and Towson University in Maryland, where she earned a BFA in Illustration.