Andrew Ahn (born 1985/1986) is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed the feature films ''

Spa Night ''Spa Night'' is a 2016 American drama film directed by Andrew Ahn and starring Joe Seo. It was shown in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. At Sundance, Joe Seo won the Special Jury Award for Breakthrough ...

'' (2016), ''

Driveways A driveway (also called ''drive'' in UK English) is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group. Driveways rarely have traffic lights, but some that bear ...

'' (2019), and ''

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Long ...

'' (2022).

Early life

Andrew Ahn was born and raised in Los Angeles. He is the son of Korean immigrants. He graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

with a degree in English and received a Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) in Film Directing from the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

(CalArts).

Career

In 2011, Ahn wrote, directed, edited and produced a short film entitled ''Andy'', which won the Best Narrative Short award at the 2011

San Diego Asian Film Festival The San Diego Asian Film Festival ( SDAFF) is an annual event organized by Pacific Arts Movement (formerly the San Diego Asian Film Foundation) that takes place every November in San Diego, California. Background SDAFF is the flagship event for ...

. The film has also screened at film festivals including the

Boston Asian American Film Festival Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF), a production of the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), includes a program of independent cinema highlighting recent, significant works by and/or about Asian Americans and the Asian diaspora. BAAF ...

, the

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

, the

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every March in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asia ...

, the

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) – formerly known as VC FilmFest – is an annual film festival presented by Visual Communications (VC). It was established in 1983 by Linda Mabalot as a vehicle to promote Asian Pacific Amer ...

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

, the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon and the

Vancouver Asian Film Festival The Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia for about 4–5 days in November. Launching in 1996, it is Canada’s oldest Asian film festival, exhibiting films and videos by North Ameri ...

. In 2012, Ahn wrote, directed, edited and produced a short film entitled ''Dol (First Birthday)'', which premiered at the 2012

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. It won awards including the Grand Jury Award Outstanding Narrative Short Film at

: Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2012, and a Jury Award for Best Narrative Short Film at the Polari: Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 2012. Ahn has stated that he made the film to come out to his parents as gay.Andrew Ahn, The Sundance Diaries, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-ahn/the-sundance-diaries-i-ma_b_1189336.html Ahn has also served as an editor on the documentary ''I Am Divine'' (2013) (directed by

Jeffrey Schwarz Jeffrey Schwarz is an American Emmy Awards, Emmy Award-winning film producer, director, and editor. He is known for an extensive body of documentary work including ''Boulevard! A Hollywood Story'', ''The Fabulous Allan Carr'', ''Tab Hunter Confi ...

) and was a post-production assistant on the documentaries ''Vito'' (2011) and '' Tab Hunter Confidential'' (2015), both of which were also directed by Jeffrey Schwarz. Ahn raised funds via

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

for his feature film, entitled ''

'', about a closeted gay Korean-American teenager who follows his desires and finds more than he bargains for at the Korean spa in the Koreatown of Los Angeles. He developed the screenplay for the film at the 2013 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, which it was selected for, and participated in the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab and the Film Independent Directing Lab with the feature screenplay for the project. For developing the film, he also received a Sundance Institute Cinereach Feature Film Fellow grant.

Filmography

*''

'' (2016) *''

'' (2019) *''

'' (2022)

References

External links

Andrew Ahn's Official Website2012 Sundance Filmmakers: Andrew Ahn
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahn, Andrew 1980s births 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century LGBT people American film directors of Korean descent Artists from Los Angeles Brown University alumni California Institute of the Arts alumni Film directors from Los Angeles LGBT American people of Asian descent LGBT film directors LGBT people from California Living people Year of birth missing (living people)