Maple Bacon Bar (2025)

After the death of her sister, the daughter of a Khmer-American refugee family struggles to support both the family business, a neighborhood donut shop in Long Beach, and her aspirations to venture into her own path of life.

Following a musical introduction to the Sok’s neighborhood donut shop, we see Sovanna (“Frankie”) still stuck in her grief, nine months after her sister’s passing. She attempts to balance the planning of her future while working around the clock at the shop, having now taken up her sister’s responsibilities. In order to find peace, Sovanna turns to the imagined advice of her sister. She decides it is time to get her life back on track, promising herself to still participate in her school's final gallery showing. Yet, she makes the mistake of using her sister's old sweater to finish her art piece, a decision which reopens the wound of the loss for her mother. After months of failing to connect to each other from their differing expressions of grief, they are at complete odds. Again, Sovanna escapes into her own imagination where she can find her sister’s guidance and comfort, this time in musical form. Sovanna and her mother finally outwardly discuss their grief, and Sovanna gets her mother’s blessing to pursue her own path and move forward. The film ends with Sovanna presenting her piece in the gallery, but leaving early to spend time with her family.

Previous
Previous

Killing Jar (2025)

Next
Next

Hell of a Child (2023)