The John CHO-led kidnapping thriller Searching is having a good performance. The film is about a father who looks for his missing daughter aided only by the clues she might have left behind on online social media. It has drawn the attention of the Korean audience long before its release because the film revolves around a Korean immigrant family in the United States. But there is one more thing, the prestige of the Sundance Film Festival. As the largest independent film festival in the United States, it has built up a solid trust with fans. Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise, which became a classic now, won the Special Jury Prize at the 1st edition of the event, while Coen brothers’ debut film Blood Simple or Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs made a sensation at the festival. 

The reputation of Sundance hasn’t changed. Many of the much-talked-about films of Sundance have fared well at the local box office, including Whiplash, GET OUT and Call Me by Your Name, as well as Winter’s Bone, which won the Grand Jury Prize in 2010. Oh Lucy! and Searching, two popular independent movies, are also connected to the Sundance Film Festival. Oh Lucy! is about a Japanese office lady who goes to America. It is based on the prize-winning short film of the director. Starring Asian-American actors and actresses, Searching picked the Audience Award and the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize in 2018.