Sparrow Song
In an apocalyptic world ravaged by a devastating water crisis, a dutiful daughter must convince her despondent father to fight for survival.
Produced in partial fulfillment of the MFA degree in Film at Columbia University School of the Arts.
Narrative short film, 2021.
FESTIVALS/SCREENINGS
2023 Omeleto online premiere
2022 Hollyshorts Film Festival
2023 Fargo Film Festival
CAST & CREW
Writer & Director: Christina Yoon
Producer: Jungyoon Kim
Starring: Andrea Figliomeni and Brandon deSpain
Co-writer: Catherine Kim
Cinematographer: Alejandro Miyashiro
Production Designer: Jennifer Kim
Editor: Christina Yoon
Sound Designer: Bobb Barito
Colorist: Jordan P.H. Stein
From OMELETO Channel:
“Directed and written by Christina Yoon, this short drama has a quiet and thoughtful tenor, but it opens with striking, raw images of dead birds, which the father tells his daughter not to eat. The image, juxtaposed against the sparse, pared-down storytelling that follows, sets the tone for a uniquely enigmatic storytelling experience that explores both the possibility of a challenged world and the universal process of separation between children and their caretakers.
The father-daughter pair make their way gingerly across an eerily quiet landscape, shot with a sense of visual remoteness that emphasizes the land's emptiness over its beauty. The twosome talk very little, and while the dialogue is sparse, it's clear the daughter is the more curious and hopeful one between them both.
They find refuge in an abandoned home, rendered in an almost claustrophobic, shadowy darkness. The father has been a visually remote figure throughout, often shrouded and outlined in shadow and seen from far away. We never see actor Brandon Desplain's face well for much of the film, but his world-weary voice and body language communicate a man who has receded from life. As his daughter, actor Andrea Figliomeni grabs onto any sign of optimism or hope, her open, yearning face is often the most vibrant point of dynamism in a somber narrative, but she also conveys a wrenching sorrow when she contemplates her drive to pursue signs of clean water with her equal desire to stay with her father.
Poetic, cerebral and beautifully made, SPARROW SONG is a meditation on growing up and coming of age in a ruined world, as well as a daughter striking out independently on her own on her first real steps towards adulthood. With its elegantly self-assured, almost minimalist storytelling, it also feels like a parable of generational differences -- an older generation that has given up hope and fallen into inaction, and a younger one that still believes that action can be taken towards a better life. There are no answers or certainties about the characters' eventual fates in the film. Like the daughter, we're headed into the unknown -- but she knows she's leaving behind certain stasis, despondency and hopelessness."
