Watch the trailer for the award-winning drama 'Spa NIght'

Andrew Ahn's debut feature opens August 19 in New York and August 26 in Los Angeles.



The award-winning indie coming-of-age drama Spa Night opens in limited theatrical release next month from Strand Releasing. Writer/director Andrew Ahn's debut feature tells the story of one Korean American family's dreams and realities as each struggles with the overlap of desire, disillusionment and sense of tradition.

I attended the world premiere of Spa Night at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance for lead actor Joe Seo. The film also recently took home the U.S. Grand Jury Prize at Outfest, the Los Angeles LGBT film festival. It's an incredible, heartfelt, deeply personal film.

Here's the official Spa Night trailer, which just premiered on Vulture:

Joe Seo wins Sundance Special Jury Award for 'Spa Night'

Actor wins award for Breakthrough Performance in writer/director Andrew Ahn's feature debut.



Over the weekend, the 2016 Sundance Film Festival wrapped up ten days of premieres and deals by handing out awards for the festival's top films. Huge congratulations go to actor Joe Seo, who won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance in Spa Night.

Seo plays 18-year-old David Cho, the closeted son of immigrants parents living and working in Los Angeles' Koreatown. As his parents struggle to make ends meet, David grapples with his awakening independence, sexuality and Korean American identity in writer/director Andrew Ahn's quiet, confident feature film debut.

Joe wasn't even at Saturday night's Closing Awards Ceremony, but Andrew was on hand to accept the award on his behalf. Here's video of Andrew collecting the trophy: