Independent filmmakers are used to overcoming challenges—mostly budgetary—to get their movie made. But Mountain View resident John Kim had to contend with more pressing issues while shooting “Reunion” last year in Los Angeles.
The first day of production was Jan. 7, 2025, the day of the Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires that destroyed over 57,000 acres and displaced thousands, including cast and crew members.
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“We had serious conversations about if we could and should proceed,” says Kim, the film’s writer/director.
After nine days, the filmmakers decided to continue the shoot and managed to wrap filming. The world premiere of “Reunion” is set for March 15 at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose as part of the Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival.
I’m really proud of the cast and crew for holding together,” Kim says. “Independent films are challenging under the best of circumstances. This wasn’t the best of circumstances.”
“Reunion” follows Guy (Jake Choi), an Asian American funeral home worker who goes to his high school reunion with the hope of jump-starting his life, only to be mistaken for the most successful alumnus of another school—a mysterious Asian billionaire who no one has seen since graduation.
“I thought it was fertile territory,” Kim says. “Reunions can be nerve-wracking; you want to make an impression.”
The film weaves Guy’s story together with those of other reunion attendees. While a lot of these plotlines are played for laughs, Kim says, “I hope you see their humanity.”
“There’s a little bit of a message here about seeing people for who they are,” he adds. “I don’t think it’s an accident that the (main) character is Asian American.”
A first-generation Korean American, Kim grew up in Palo Alto, where he attended Gunn High School, and went to film school at the University of Southern California.
“As forgiving as this area is, there was a little racism when I was growing up,” he recalls.
He experienced a little more when breaking into the movie business.
“I started as an actor,” Kim says. “I realized as I got older that there weren’t a lot of people who looked like me; there were no roles for Asians. But I can write and direct.”
Not having any on-screen role models affected Kim’s own casting decisions.
“There was a period at USC when I didn’t cast any Asians in my films,” he recalls. “I realized I’d been so brainwashed that I couldn’t imagine there’d be someone like me on the screen.
“Ever since then, I’ve made sure my films are inclusive,” Kim says. “If we could stop relating to each other by weight, height and skin color, the world would be a better place.”
The main storyline and subplots of “Reunion” are driven by how the characters see themselves and each other, and how this makes it easy for Guy to pretend to be someone he’s not.
“We’re always being told that whatever we’re doing isn’t enough,” Kim says. “We forget we have value as we are.”
A former Cinequest volunteer, Kim helped establish the festival’s screenplay competition.
“There was always something about Cinequest that feels homegrown,” he says. ”I’m happy that our world premiere is going to be local.”
Kim says “Reunion” soundtrack albums will be available at the March 15 world premiere and the March 21 screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Mountain View. Composer Andrew Yarovenko wrote songs that evoke the early 2000s, when the characters were in high school, but also support the film’s multiple storylines.
“It’s sort of timeless,” Kim says of the music. “We didn’t want it to be stuck on Nelly Furtado.”
In the age of streaming, Kim says he’s looking forward to having Cinequest audiences experience his film in a theater.
“There’s something about the communal experience,” he adds. “That’d be the greatest compliment if people came out of the theater and said, ‘Man, that movie is strange.’”
“Reunion” plays on March 15 at 12:30 p.m. at the California Theatre in San Jose and on March 21 at 2:45 p.m. at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Mountain View. For tickets, visit cinequest.org.
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