cynthia minhae yoo

"Babo" is a story about the culture gap between a Korean mother and her Korean-American daughter. Minhae Kim grows up in adulation of her sharp and intuitive mother, an immigrant to America whose only real shortcoming is her inability to speak English. However as time goes by, the language barrier between the two begin to create unspoken embarrassment in Minhae’s life. From watching her own mother being patronized for her culture to teaching her elementary vocabulary, Minhae’s image of a role model mom becomes skewed into of what Koreans would call an idiot— “babo”. When trouble at school arises and the her true feeling towards her mom is revealed, Minhae then realizes her own shortcomings, and the undeniable truth that language is not a qualifier for intelligence. Created for submission to HBO APA Visionaries Short Film Competition. Director: Cynthia Yoo Executive Producer: James Lee Screenplay: Jay Oh Story by: Cynthia Yoo Director of Photography: James Lee Asst. Cinematographer: Victor Lee Editors: James Lee and Cynthia Yoo Starring: Deborah Kim as Minhae (Older) Kasey Lee as Minhae (Younger) Borah Ahn as Mom Chris Perry as English Teacher Audrey Hans as Groceries Lady Sound Engineers: Saad Ansari and Joseph Jeon Production Assistants: Joseph Jeon, Kase Lee, and Julie Selnekovic-Lee Special Thanks To: Eugene and Jia Chung Calvary Korean United Methodist Church, East Brunswick, NJ