Emily May Jampel is a filmmaker from Oʻahu, Hawai'i, based in New York City. “Lucky Fish” is her debut short, and has already played at festivals including Palm Springs International Film Festival, Champs-Élysées, Outfest L.A., Frameline, Inside Out and Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia.

“Lucky Fish” is screening at Busan International Short Film Festival

The movie begins inside a Chinese restaurant where Maggie, an Asian-American girl who is about to go to college, is “suffering” through her family's condescension, cliched-thinking and intrusiveness, as her younger sister has caught her looking at another Asian-American girl, across their table. Frustrated, Maggie goes to the bathroom, where she meets the aforementioned, Celene, with the two eventually moving to the upper floor of the restaurant, where an impressive fish tank is lying. Gradually, word by word, agreement by agreement, the two come closer.

Within the 8 minutes of the short's duration, Emily May Jampel...