New American Voices continues with a daring feature from an up-and-coming New York filmmaker.

Winner of the Janine Bazin Award at Belfort 2024, Jinho Myung’s Softshell explores the lives of Thai-American siblings Narin and Jamie in the wake of their mother’s death. It is an elegant and provocative feature, and we’re excited to host its online premiere.

Grounded in the haphazard rhythm of New York, Softshell sees Myung train his eye on the aggression, strangeness, and ultimately violence that affects immigrants in the United States. Protean in design, his film moves in an organic fashion, assembling a series of experiences that capture the paradoxes cultural assimilation thrusts upon second-generation immigrants’ sense of identity.

“As I think more and more about the future, specifically in my relationship with filmmaking and if I’ll get to keep doing it, I feel increasingly grateful and lucky that I got to make this movie. I think at least thirteen stars had to align for it to happen. Unless I have a family or something, the days spent with Cali, Legyaan, and Rhys will go down as my most cherished memories.” JINHO MYUNG

Integral to the unvarnished dimension of Myung’s film was his decision to shoot it in 16mm — a choice that brings to mind the early work of the Safdie Brothers. (Rhys Scarabosio, who shot the film, has collaborated with cinematographer Sean Price Williams in the past.) It’s a decision that places Softshell in a certain continuum of New York indies of a provocative ilk interested in the plight of everyday people, but it also signals Myung’s ambition as a young storyteller invested in questions of form. Between the film’s look, its candid performances, and its frank display of emotion, what manifests itself is an honest and assured endeavor from a director with a clear love of filmmaking.

Jinho Myung (b. 2001) is a filmmaker living in New York, originally from California. His debut feature film Softshell was awarded the Jazine Bazin Grand Jury Award in Belfort. In 2025, he was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” Right now, he is trying to write a narrative feature film which takes place mostly in Korea. He is also working on a documentary essay film interviewing men he could resemble in 25 years.

Text written by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer. Special thanks to Jinho Myung and Matt Grady from Factory 25.