Jennifer Phang's New Film HALF-LIFE makes World Premiere at 2008 Sundance Film Festival

Jennifer Phang's New Film HALF-LIFE makes World Premiere at 2008 Sundance Film Festival

Writer/Director Jennifer Phangs debut feature HALFLIFE makes its World Premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival (January 17-27). Part live action, part animation, Phang's psychological drama centers on a dysfunctional Asian American family coping with life. Eight-year-old Timothy Wu (Alexander Agate) lives with his mother Saura (Julia Nickson, Rambo II, China Cry ) and older sister Pam (Sanoe Lake, Blue Crush ) in Diablo Valley, California. Abandoned by their father, the precocious boy creates a hyper-real dream world to escape his loneliness while his angry sister engages in daily battle with their mother and retreats into her work. Saura, a bitter and fading beauty, struggles to keep her family together while pursuing a relationship with a handsome younger man (Ben Redgrave, Straightman ) who insinuates himself into the kids' lives in unsettling ways.

Parallel narratives and love triangles intersect as characters explore sexuality, fall in and out of love, and express rage. Pam's best friend and confidante Scott (Leonardo Nam,The Perfect Score, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants ) becomes romantically involved with Tim's teacher Jonah (Lee Marks,Killjoy ). The budding relationship unnerves Scott's religious parents (James Eckhouse, Beverly Hills 90210; Susan Ruttan, LA Law ), threatens to end Jonah's career, and alienates Pam, who harbors feelings for her best pal. Meanwhile Saura, desperate to hold on to her boyfriend, continues to ignore signs her lover's presence is slowly tearing her family apart.

Phang is a graduate of the M.F.A. Directing Program at the American Film Institute, where she received the Holleigh
Bernson Memorial Award and the Dreamworks World Studio Foundation Scholarship. Her thesis film Love Ltd. , a suburban dramedy, was screened at over thirty international film festivals and is co-distributed by Hypnotic, NAATA, and Frameline. As an Honoree for Film Independent's Project: Involve, Phang worked under the mentorship of acclaimed director Tony Bui (Three Seasons .) She was awarded the Talent Scout Writing Contest's First Prize for co-writing the original one-hour pilot Simi Valley . HALF-LIFE was developed at the Film Independent Directors' Lab under Rodrigo Garcia (Tell Me You Love Me ). Phang was recently nominated for the Rockefeller Foundation's Film and Video Fellowship and was a finalist for the IFP/NY Adrienne Shelly Grant.

SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL PUBLIC SCREENING TIMES:
WORLD PREMIERE - Saturday, January 19, 9:15pm (Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City)
Tuesday, January 22, 3:00pm (Egyptian Theatre, Park City)
Friday, January 25, 6:30pm (Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City)
Saturday, January 26, 12:45pm (Broadway Centre Cinemas V, Salt Lake City)