BEDFORD PARK Discovery

An incredible South Korean cast grounds Stephanie Ahn’s deeply affecting feature debut, a nuanced and emotionally layered portrait of two lost souls and a connection that emerges in the most unexpected of places. Moon Choi shines as Audrey, a 30-something physical therapist drifting through life, whose carefully constructed independence is disrupted when she returns from New York to her parents’ home in suburban New Jersey after her mother (veteran actress Won Mi-kyung) is in a car accident. There she encounters Eli (Son Suk-ku), the young man responsible for the crash, an ex-wrestler-turned-security guard estranged from his adoptive family and lying low to avoid being drawn into a new scheme by his delinquent brother. As two second-generation Korean Americans from very different backgrounds, Audrey and Eli at first clash, but begin to forge an uneasy friendship as their lives become intertwined and both are forced to confront the personal histories, family dynamics and unresolved traumas that have shaped them. Rather than presenting the diasporic experience as a singular or monolithic one, Ahn reveals the many ways that belonging and expectation are negotiated across generations. Through Audrey and Eli’s distinct journeys, Ahn explores how cultural inheritance, familial demands and individual choices intersect, creating experiences that are as varied and complex as the people who live them. Premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature, BEDFORD PARK announces Ahn as a major new talent, offering a poignant, but unsentimental reflection on trauma, reconciliation and the diverse realities of diasporic life. –Abbie Algar