Bentobox

Directed by Olivia Owyeung

Length: 15:00
Producer: Victoria Hirakawa-lee Castro
Editor: Lijie Xie

Cinematographer: John Zeng
Sound Designers: TravSonic Audio Production

Synopsis: Think Pixar's Bao meets A24's Minari.

BENTOBOX is a short film written by Victoria Hirakawa-Lee Castro. It tells a story about Tim Benson, a ten-year old child of half Japanese-half American decent living with his immigrant mother, Okaasan, who prepares him lunches in the form of bentos. What she doesn't know is that he's teased and bullied for these lunches at school. Looking to run with the cool kids, Tim abandons his mother's cooking and searches for American snacks to indulge on instead. With his father working away overseas, Tim searches for his identity between his cultural Japanese household from the town he's supposed to fit into, rejecting his mother entirely in the process.

Undergraduate
vac333@nyu.edu

Olivia Owyeung is a writer-director from the San Francisco Bay Area. Olivia sees storytelling as a way to help us understand our own humanity. With her signature minimalistic, intimate, and melancholic style, Olivia’s films are emotional explorations into identity, belonging, and human connections. Olivia recently graduated magna cum laude from New York University with a BFA in Film & Television Production and a minor in the Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology. Her short film, ORCHID, won the second place prize at the NYU New Visions & Voices Festival in 2020. While a student at NYU, Olivia was selected to participate in a directing course at the National Film and Television School in England with director Brian Gilbert and acting coach Miranda Harcourt. Olivia has interned for Likely Story, Running Man Post, Untitled Entertainment, and Park Pictures. Her short film, MAUREEN, which she wrote and directed, was advised by Sam Pollard and was shot during the pandemic. The script was recently named a Quarterfinalist in the 2022 Screencraft Short Screenplay competition. Olivia’s most recent directorial project is BENTOBOX, an award-winning short screenplay by Victoria Hirakawa-Lee Castro.