Synopsis

Rosie, a 13-year-old Chinese-American girl, embarks on a skateboarding escapade through the streets of New York with her crush and his best friend at the cost of abandoning her little sister and never delivering a forgotten lunchbox.

Curator’s Note

The entire film flows as gracefully as a sunflower, with Rosie's radiant beauty and natural performances captivating the viewer's attention. Her interactions with her mother and sister exude warmth, despite occasional misunderstandings and conflicts, consistently portraying the nurturing environment of a Chinese household. Rosie's interactions with an American boy offer glimpses into the situation of Chinese-Americans in the United States. Additionally, what's remarkable is that the director only subtly touches upon this aspect, maintaining the film's lively and carefree teenage style while demonstrating a sense of reason and restraint.(Yiting Lu)

Director’s bio

Holly M. Kaplan 李美娟 is a

Chinese-American filmmaker born and raised in New York City. Inspired and driven by ties to her mixed Cantonese heritage, Holly is invested in bringing narratives about diversity and the Asian diaspora to the forefront with a focus on storytelling from the feminine perspective. In 2022, Holly was chosen for NALIP & NETFLIX's "Latino Lens: Narrative Short Incubator for Women of Color" to write, direct, and produce her first professional short film, SUNFLOWER GIRL. She received her BA in Film & Media Arts at American University and completed a filmmaking program at FAMU International Prague, where she shot her student short (THE LESSON) on 16mm. Holly has served as an apprentice to the late Independent Director/Producer Ben Barenholtz and assisted Executive Producer/Director Lisa

Soper and Director Alex Pillai on PRETTY

LITTLE LIARS: ORIGINAL SIN (HBO/Max).

Director’s Note

Innocence, young love, complicated beliefs about oneself, and relationships with family are all budding issues that tend to feel larger than life growing up. When writing SUNFLOWER GIRL, I drew direct inspiration by tapping into my past, as a child growing up in New York City and my family history as immigrants from Hong Kong who owned a

Chinese laundry storefront in Brooklyn in the 1970s. With an uptick in stories of discrimination and violence against Asians in the US since the COVID-19 pandemic, I felt moved to tell an uplifting and personal coming-of-age story that explores the universal experience of young love and growing pains without showcasing hate or violence. Americanism coming in contact with the Asian American experience is the greater theme that I’m exploring. Where Americanism seeks to devour the other, SUNFLOWER GIRL offers a tender, complex, and authentic slice of Asian American life through the lens of the female gaze.

Festival & Awards

Casts

Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Cairo Zion, Daniel Girdo, Abigail Lopez, Fanny Lawren

Credits

Screenplay by Holly M. Kaplan

Producer Seika Paradeis, Holly M. Kaplan