The Chungs: The Lost Tribe of Long Island

Institute History

Description

Five Towns, Long Island, 1982. When the Chungs move out of the Korean enclave of Flushing, Queens and into the nouveau-riche town of Hewlett, Long Island, 12-year-old Mary Chung suddenly finds herself lost in the foreign world of Jewish suburbia.

Socially awkward and hopelessly gentile, Mary feels alienated and misunderstood. But when a classmate invites her to Rosh Hashana dinner, Mary's life is turned upside-down. The warm, inviting world of her new Jewish friend is in sharp contrast to her austere Korean household, and the allure is overwhelming. Desperate for acceptance, Mary realizes that the only way she can be happy is to obliterate all that is Korean and Catholic, and become as Jewish as possible. Mary decides she must be bat-mitzvahed like everyone else and secretly plans the bat mitzvah bash of the season.

Unlike Mary's father, who is too preoccupied with his own social-climbing ambitions to notice his daughter's transformation, Mary's mother is horrified with the new Mary. Convinced that she is on drugs, Mary's mother goes on the warpath.
As the eve of Mary's bat mitzvah approaches, her confidence begins to falter. No longer the girl from Flushing yet not a part of the Jewish community either, Mary must ultimately discover the identity that is uniquely her own.

Credits

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]