Randall Park Sundance Feature ‘Shortcomings’ Lands at Sony Pictures Classics

Mia Galuppo
·2 min read
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Shortcomings — the directorial debut from Randall Park that screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the Sundance Film Festival — has landed at Sony Pictures Classic in a worldwide deal.

The feature, which is based on Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel of the same name, is from Tango and Topic Studios. Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola and Ally Maki lead a cast that also includes Tavi Gevinson, Debby Ryan, Sonoya Mizuno, Timothy Simons and Jacob Batalon.

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The synopsis for the film reads: “Ben (Min), a struggling filmmaker, lives in Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend, Miko (Maki), who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an art house movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice (Cola), a queer grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want.”

Tomine adapted the script and executive produced. Hieu Ho, Park and Michael Golamco produced the movie for Imminent Collision, along with Margot Hand for Picture Films and Howard Cohen, Eric d’Arbeloff and Jennifer Berman for Roadside Attractions. Executive producers are Ryan Heller, Michael Bloom, Jennifer Semler and Maria Zuckerman for Topic Studios; Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Max Silva and Neil Shah for Tango; Roadside Attractions’ Ryan Paine and Daniel Hank.

“The thought of Shortcomings playing on a big screen and opening with that iconic Sony Pictures Classics logo thrills me to no end,” said Park. “To be a part of their rich legacy of independent filmmaking is a real honor. Thank you to [SPC co-presidents] Michael [Barker] and Tom [Bernard] for embracing our story about flawed, complex human beings who happen to be Asian American, just trying their best. Please do not change your logo anytime soon.”

The deal was negotiated with UTA and WME on behalf of the filmmakers.

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