Smoking Tigers

Staggered by the separation of her parents, a Korean-American girl struggles to find herself. Caught between supporting both parents in their work while longing for their old life together and burdened by the responsibility of a younger sibling, few things seem to be falling into place. Upon starting a new year of high school among wealthy elites, she also has to balance the duality of her new friends and low-income reality. So Young Shelly Yo marks her feature directorial debut with this film about traversing the demands of being a young, first-generation American grappling with teenage angst while lifting up the family members struggling (and at times flailing) around you. The intimacy of parent-child relationships and friendships between young women grab the audience's attention and subvert expectations around what it means to support one another through many lenses. (Tribeca Film Festival)