Happy Cleaners
When a new landlord comes around, Mr. and Mrs. Choi find their dry cleaning business, Happy Cleaners in Flushing, Queens, in jeopardy of closing after 17 years. While they make every effort to save the business, their daughter Hyunny and son Kevin are also at their own tough crossroads of life under the pressure of their parents’ high hopes. Struggling through economic turmoil, cultural clashes, and generational divide, the Choi family realizes that the only way to be stronger is to embrace each other.
Happy Cleaners is a heartfelt story that celebrates the survival of immigrants, the experiences of the Korean American community, and the value of family.
Film Festivals
2020
2019
Filmmakers
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Julian Kim
Co-Director & Writer
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Julian was born and bred in New York. He pursued a career in the arts at an early age despite the Korean-American norm. An animator-to-be turned filmmaker, Julian always felt passionate about telling moving and creative stories. He works at ABC News Digital as an Editor and Producer and Happy Cleaners will be his feature film directorial debut. His quirky compartmentalizing work ethic comes as no surprise to his colleagues as he enjoys long walks inside the Container Store, Muji’s packaging aisle, and building his Legos in a very linear manner.
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Peter S. Lee
Co-Director & Writer
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Peter grew up in a blue-collar, immigrant family in Flushing, New York. The films that Peter creates are born from a singular desire to tell authentic stories of the invisible and the marginalized, using his own experiences, upbringing, and observations as a guide.
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Kat Kim
Producer & Writer
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Kat is a film producer, writer, and talent. She is a Flushing, Queens girl from her first breath to her eventual last. Her professional training is in law and has been working as an attorney for a decade in the securities regulation and finance industry. She has always sought to tap into her creative passions through the platform of the arts and entertainment. She believes that representing a voice for her ethnic and gender community is realized through her role as a Producer/Writer. She enjoys comedy, boxing, and secretly writing her own biopic sitcom.
Behind the Making of Happy Cleaners
June 25th, 2023 | 7:30PM EST
Join us on June 25th @ 7:30PM EST for a free outdoor screening of Happy Cleaners!
Get to know the directors and producers and personal insights into the film.
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Vivian Lee
Host
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Peter S. Lee
Co-Director & Writer
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Kat Kim
Producer & Writer
Community Partners
Private Screening
We love participating in Q&As and are honored that you want to share Happy Cleaners with your community!
Our Happy Cleaners private screenings are virtual and accessible to folks around the world and great for DEI events and programs, university programs, and community events.
How it Works
A private link will be sent out along with the password to watch the film. The link will be available for 2-3 days, allowing viewers to watch the film comfortably from their tv, computer, or tablet. The Q&A will occur 1-2 days following the final day of viewing the film. We ask an organizer of the event to be the moderator for the discussion and guide the conversation. There will be topics and questions already prepared but we encourage viewers to come with questions and actively engage in the Q&A.
Email us at Info@koreanamericanstory.org to learn more!
Screened At:
BNY Mellon, Goldman Sachs, Northwestern University, Columbia Alumni Association (Boston and Chicago), Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA), Perdue University, and Pfizer
Cast
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Hyanghwa Lim
Mrs. Choi (Mother)
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Hyanghwa Lim got her start as a thespian at the age of 8 when her grandmother enrolled her in a children’s theater company. She thrived. Hyanghwa worked as a child actor throughout her childhood and by the time she was in her early adulthood, her career bloomed as she was cast as the lead in Wife of Choonpoong by Korea’s legendary playwright and director Oh Tae Seok. Hyanghwa earned Korea’s Golden Globe Award in 1977 for her lead role in Korean Broadcasting System’s Ee Uh Do. Currently, she resides in both Seoul and New York.
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Charles Ryu
Mr. Choi (Father)
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Charles Ryu never acted in any professional capacity beyond the classroom presentations as a student at HB Studio in New York City 30 years ago, where he studied acting for two years, not in order to become an actor, but to improve his preaching skills as a young pastor. He is currently the Pastor at Morningside United Methodist Church, an English Speaking Korean American congregation in New York City. A concert pianist with numerous concert credits in four continents, he also studied modern dance for a year at former Merce Cunningham School of Modern Dance. His language ability includes English, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish and French (in the order of fluency).
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Yeena Sung
Hyunny (Daughter)
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Yeena Sung is a graduate of Tisch School of the Arts and is currently pursuing her MFA in Acting at Columbia University. Theatre credits include: Suds (A.R.T), Hi-Fi/Wi-Fi/Sci-Fi (La MaMa), Campfire (Lincoln Center), Mary V (Theater for the New City), Comfort Women: A New Musical (Theater at St.Clement’s), and Inside Up (Joe’s Pub). Film credits: Happy Cleaners, Furlough, Noli Me Tangere, Beyond the Pale, Clique Bait, and Let’s Play Dead Girl.
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Yun Jeong
Kevin (Son)
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Yun Jeong was born in Korea and moved to the United States of America at the age of 14. He discovered that he was able to gain his own voice and communicate with others through acting on stage and decided to pursue his acting career. He attended The William Esper Studio (Sanford Meisner Technique conservatory) in New York, has been working in numerous theatre and film projects. Currently, he had relocated himself to Los Angeles to further his dream as an actor.