“Cabbage Daddy,” filmmaker Grace An’s four-minute rush of colorful, poetic whiplash premiering at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, began with a simple premise: “Why am I so bad at Korean?”

An grew up around English and Korean in Toronto, Canada. Her family spoke “Konglish,” a mix of the languages. 

“I wouldn’t say I’m completely fluent (in Korean), but I can hold conversations,” An said. “There’s a certain nature to the conversations that are a bit more comfortable, and they kind of understand my broken Korean and vice-versa.”

It wasn’t until she was older that An deliberately tried to improve her Korean. The process of learning resulted in funny misinterpretations, and she began making a list of Korean and English homophones. 

When she’d stopped adding to the list, An knew she had the script for her next short film on her hands.

The resulting “Cabbage Daddy” is a chain of vocabulary dominos. The film will show a magpie perched on a branch, add a smoking cigarette to its beak, then jump to a couple holding hands, all while repeating the similar-sounding Korean words for “magpie,” “cigarette” and “together.”

Aided by the sometimes playful, sometimes sincere musical score by Oliver Lewis, the film can jump from a drawing of a hug to a childish depiction of an anus without missing a beat.

Each of the film’s shots was drawn with crayon on paper, then animated with a combination of traditional techniques and digital manipulation via Photoshop.

The medium creates an intentionally juvenile aesthetic meant to capture the feeling of “a confused child trying to grasp onto these very fleeting words,” An explained.

An said that the production of “Cabbage Daddy” took two years, with the animation production lasting eight to nine months. 

The animation was not without sacrifices, particularly of An’s fingers, which were constantly calloused as she spent night after night at her desk drawing.

“I have one picture with my ring finger that’s completely busted,” she said. “My fingers were quite hideous for several months.”

An isn’t sure how many crayons she burned through, but, just like any child, she found that she used only about a quarter of a box’s colors, while the rest went untouched.

She used green the most, which is no surprise seeing that the first thing she animated was a cabbage. The film’s concept and title originated with the Korean words “napa,” a type of cabbage, and “appa,” or daddy.

Although An joked that she doesn’t want to be perpetually known as “cabbage girl,” she certainly gained a greater appreciation for the leafy vegetable in the process of creating her film. 

During voice recordings, Lewis, who was also the film’s sound designer, suggested crunching cabbage leaves in the studio. So, An bought a cabbage, but Lewis didn’t end up using it. With a whole cabbage on her hands, An realized it was gimjang, the season around November and December when Koreans spend time cooking kimchi. 

“I was like, ‘I’m going to be a woman and start making my own kimchi to make my mother proud,’” An recalled. 

An said that her parents are her harshest critics, making them the perfect sounding board when she’s representing Korean culture in film.

One of An’s previous films, “Baek-il,” adapted the myth of Ungnyeo, a bear that quarantined in a cave for 100 days to become a woman. 

“After that came out, I think I felt a bit uneasy being recognized as a Korean animator or filmmaker. I am Korean, but I didn’t really feel like that,” An explained.

It was then that An was determined to create artwork from her perspective as a second-generation immigrant. 

An said her parents loved “Baek-il.” They don’t quite understand “Cabbage Daddy.” More fluent Korean speakers have said that the film doesn’t make sense or that it was made from an English-speaking perspective, she said.

“I kind of grappled with that eventually, and I realized that it doesn’t really matter,” An said. “I just came to terms with the fact that this is my subjective view of the two languages and my personal mistakes.”

That perspective was hammered home by the film’s voice actors, Annette Ubinn Hong Kim and Daniel Heemang Cho. The former is a fluent speaker, while the latter is a second-generation immigrant like An, who was afraid of getting pronunciations wrong. 

As for viewers who don’t speak Korean, the film is a wave of confusion, but An said that confusion is in some ways intentional.

“I’m based in Montreal, and in Quebec, there’s quite charged language politics. Most people are already bilingual here, and then there’s a lot of allophone children who are growing up learning three or more languages,” An said. “Oftentimes, language can be seen as a barrier. But at the same time, approaching the struggles of learning languages can also be a unifier.”

“Cabbage Daddy” will premiere as part of the Animated Short Film Program at 9 p.m. on Jan. 23 at The Yarrow Theatre.

Learn more and reserve tickets at festival.sundance.org/program/film/6932fa3fb27e9da1f5e0edc7.

‘Cabbage Daddy’ in-person screenings

• 9 p.m., Jan. 23, The Yarrow Theatre
• 9:40 a.m., Jan. 24, Megaplex Redstone 2
• 11:30 a.m., Jan. 25, Broadway Centre Cinemas 3
• 4 p.m., Jan. 31, Holiday Village Cinemas 2
• 4:40 p.m., Feb. 1, Megaplex Redstone 2

Online

• 8 a.m., Jan. 29-11:55 p.m., Feb. 1

The post Sundance short film ‘Cabbage Daddy’ gets wonderfully lost in translation appeared first on Park Record.

Growing up in Oak Park, Illinois, filmmaker Gregory Barnes was one of only a few members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his hometown. He lived a 30-minute drive from his ward building. His dad was the ward bishop, while his best friend’s mom was the Relief Society president. That, Barnes said, put him in a “prime position” for gossip.

Hearing outlandish tales of wedding nights gone awry from the Relief Society president while hanging out in his friend’s basement formed the basis for Barnes’ latest film, “Together Forever,” which is screening at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

“Together Forever” was born out of a partnership between Neon and Kodak as part of a 2024 short film contest to promote Sean Baker’s romantic comedy “Anora.” Winners were given funding and mentorship as they shot a brief love story on analog film. 

Barnes’ entry follows a Latter-day Saint couple as they struggle through an unsexy honeymoon night.

“To some degree, your first time is always going to be sloppy, but for Mormons, it’s extreme,” Barnes said. “If you’re lucky, like me, you have someone in your ward getting you ready, letting you know that communication’s important, and don’t do anything you’re not comfortable about.”

But often, he said, the religion’s purity culture leads to a lack of sexual education. 

“When you’re finally getting at it, there’s no point of reference, because it’s all taboo until it’s not,” he said. “By the time you’re doing it, you’re sort of inventing sex. You’re coming together with a person. You’re like, ‘How do we do this? What are the mechanics?’”

“Together Forever” is a bare-faced depiction of that messiness. Barnes calls it a comedy, albeit an incredibly dry one. 

Although he’s left the church, Barnes’ intention isn’t to mock.

“I’m not interested in ‘South Park’ levels of depictions of Mormonism,” he said. “The punchline isn’t ever that they’re Mormon. That’s just the given circumstances. And then I just try to construct something that feels real, with real characters, with real heart, real humanity.”

In many ways, Barnes followed the church blueprint. He served a two-year mission in Salta, Argentina, at 19. He married his college sweetheart. He attended Brigham Young University, where he enrolled in the film program.

At the time, he felt he couldn’t make films about his religion, censored by the expectation to depict and talk about the church only in ways that would be approved of by peers and mentors.

It wasn’t until Barnes pursued his master’s degree in fine arts at New York University that he began to open up creatively about his upbringing. That was in 2018, a few years after he had left the church.

It was there that Barnes made his first film about the church, “The Touch of the Master’s Hand.” The film follows a missionary confessing his pornography addiction. 

The film takes place sometime between 1995 and 2008, when Gordon B. Hinckley was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The film was inspired by Hinckley’s referring to pornography as a plague and the personal effect that had on Barnes as a teenager.

“Together Forever” also takes place during this era, opening with an excerpt from a 2004 talk by Hinckley, “The Women in Our Lives.”

“I think he’s just got an incredible cadence, and his talks are really amazing,” Barnes said. “When I’m writing scripts, I’ll be like, ‘What’s the themes I’m dealing with?’ And then I’ll go back to General Conference talks and pull language from that.”

The fixation on Hinckley allows Barnes to depict the church culture he was raised in rather than the “new brand” of Latter-Day Saints that has come through a slew of organizational changes. 

“The Touch of the Master’s Hand” premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and won the Short Film Jury Award in the U.S. Fiction category.

Barnes said the film received a warm reception from both current and former church members. He’s more antsy about the response to “Together Forever,” since the content is a little more “out there.”

Despite no longer being a member of the faith, Barnes owns the label of “Mormon” — even if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not. 

“I feel very grateful that I have this culture to explore and mine. I find the stories there to be very human and tender,” he said.

Barnes attributes his creative mind to singing in the church choir. His love for nature comes from participating in his ward’s Boy Scouts of America troop. And there were times when he attended church that he felt a deep love from his fellow members.

Barnes was initially hesitant to make art about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But now, it’s an “artisanal well,” he said. “I can’t shut it off.”

“Together Forever” will premiere as part of the Short Film Program 2 at 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 24 at The Yarrow Theatre.

Learn more and reserve tickets at festival.sundance.org/program/film/6932fa5c1a5535d5c891aef1.

‘Together Forever’ in-person screenings

• 3:15 p.m., Jan. 24, Yarrow Theatre
• 3 p.m., Jan. 28, Megaplex Redstone 3
• 10:20 a.m., Jan. 29, Megaplex Redstone 3
• 10 a.m., Jan. 30, Holiday Village Cinemas 2

Online

• 8 a.m., Jan. 29-11:55 p.m., Feb. 1

The post ‘Together Forever’ brings Latter-day Saint experience to Sundance appeared first on Park Record.

Last year, Katarina Ryanna, a funeral director at Heber Valley Funeral Home, approached Carrie Zabaldo, founder of Charitable Acts Theater, and offered her business as a venue for events — “because we don’t want the community to be scared of us.”

These days, Ryanna roams the funeral home, a mop of black hair obscuring her face, screeching at any jumpy teenagers (or reporters) who approach her.

For the week of Halloween, Heber Valley Funeral Home has been transformed into a haunted house, complete with cannibal clowns, a ballerina with a monstrous mouth and even some ominous polka-dotted creatures.

The production was made possible by a Wasatch County Trails Arts and Parks tax grant and dozens of volunteers, including a professional scarer teaching the greenhorns how it’s done. Zabaldo said the effort took “12 to 14 hours a day for the past week.” One of the biggest challenges comes in having to inflate and decorate their two tents every evening.

“We’re honestly ready to sleep tonight,” Zabaldo joked.

The haunted house serves as a fundraiser for Charitable Acts Theater. The theater company donates all proceeds from their plays (outside of those used to cover production costs) to local charities. Since their creation four years ago, they’ve donated $72,000, according to Zabaldo.

“I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a place that’s had more charitable-minded people, not just financially, but with their time and their talents,” Zabaldo said. “I had this idea when I lived in Oregon, but I just didn’t think it would fly, because who gives away all their money?”

When Ryanna and Zabaldo came up with the idea for a haunted house in October 2024, they were worried that Francis Mortensen, the funeral home’s new manager, would say no — but he was thrilled by the idea. You may see him at the entrance, introducing a Nosferatu statue as his “great-grandfather.”

For Mortensen, the event provides an opportunity to rebrand the funeral home as a community space.

“Even though this is a haunted house, this building is not spooky,” Mortensen said. “We’re seeing the transition of people not knowing how to handle death, and they just put it away. ‘We don’t need a service. I don’t want a service. Then I’ll feel sad.’ But that misses a big point of everything that we’re here to do. We’re here to help you grieve. We’re here to help you have fun. We’re here to help you remember your loved ones.”

After Dark at the Mortuary runs through Oct. 31, 7 to 10 p.m. at Heber Valley Funeral Home (288 N. Main St.). Tickets are $15 for adults and teens and $10 for children under 12, who must be accompanied by an adult.

The post Charitable scares at Heber Valley Funeral Home appeared first on Park Record.

Peter Baxter is the president and co-founder of Slamdance, which was started in 1995 on the campus of the University of Utah. Baxter describes his mission as providing a place for truly independent filmmakers, who make their films primarily powered by passion. Based in Los Angeles, he is also a filmmaker, directing projects for streaming services like Starz, HBO and Netflix.  

“What’s been incredible about this journey is that back in 1995 a bunch of filmmakers who didn’t get their films into Sundance came together to form their own festival,” said Baxter in an interview with The Park Record. The Slamdance festival has been able to showcase “emerging artists who might not otherwise get a screening, a platform or a place to demonstrate their art,” he said.

Through the studio project, The Park Record will feature notable, unique and interesting characters attending the 2024 Sundance and Slamdance film festivals with formal studio portraits. 

The post Slamdance President Peter Baxter visits the Park Record Studio appeared first on Park Record.

Chabad of Park City hosted their Grand Hanukkah Celebration at the St. Regis at Deer Valley Wednesday evening, Dec. 28, 2016, with live entertainment, kosher snacks, menorah lighting and more. In addition to the festivities, the kitchen at the St. Regis launched its first-ever kosher dining program this holiday season, too, offering guests and locals kosher cuisine between Dec. 21st – Dec. 30th. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

The post PHOTOS: Grand Hanukkah Celebration appeared first on Park Record.

The snow at Library Field was too good to pass up for some sledders Monday afternoon, Dec. 26, 2016. Nearly 25 children and their parents gathered at the field to partake in some simple, wintertime fun. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

The post PHOTOS: Library Field Sledding appeared first on Park Record.