Official Trailer for Shelly Yo’s ‘Smoking Tigers’ Indie Coming-of-Age
by Alex Billington
July 29, 2024
Source: YouTube
“We can’t afford to make mistakes like others…” The trailer has debuted for an indie film titled Smoking Tigers, a coming-of-age story about a young woman which is also the feature directorial debut of Korean-American filmmaker So Young Shelly Yo. This premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival last year, and won Best screenplay & Best Performance, before picking up awards at the Denver & Austin Film Festivals as well. Over one summer spent at an elite academic bootcamp, a lonely Korean-American teenager hides her problematic family & lower-income background to fit in with her new wealthy friends, only to discover the bittersweet pains of adulthood. The film is “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 film stars Ji-Young Yoo, Jung Joon Ho, Abin Andrews, Erin Choi, Erin Yoo, and Phinehas Yoon. It looks like a distinctly stylish and deeply personal story about identity and growing up.
Here’s the trailer (+ poster) for So Young Shelly Yo’s film Smoking Tigers, from YouTube (via TFS):
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. Smoking Tigers is directed by up-and-coming Korean-American indie filmmaker So Young Shelly Yo (aka just Shelly Yo), making her feature directorial debut after a few other short films. It’s produced by Guo Guo. This initially premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival last year and won a few awards. Shelly Yo’s Smoking Tigers film opens in select US theaters (LA only) starting on August 16th, 2024, before it’s streaming on Max starting August 23rd coming up. For more info, visit the film’s official site. Look good?