Aria to Kimchi

A documentary about love, healing and growth through recreating forgotten family recipe

The Story.

Logline: As memories of her mother fade with each passing year, a Korean-Canadian doctor races to preserve her mother's memory and reconnect to her roots through tracing her mother’s kimchi recipe in Korea, discovering that true healing lies in remembering how she was loved through food, reclaiming her identity and realizing her own power to heal others.

"Food was Mom's ultimate expression of love and it's a treasure that is buried in my taste buds and deep in my memory."

— Kai Park

Collage of nine dishes, including seafood, stews, desserts, sashimi, noodle dishes, salads, and seafood with vegetables.

Why this story matters now?

It features:

  • Universal Themes: Grief, cultural identity, family, healing power of love

  • Timely Issues:

    • Post-pandemic collective grief processing and healing

    • Growing loneliness in the era of AI and health impacts; increasing need for family and community

    • Loss of cultures as people migrate frequently

    • importance of food in preserving culture and family identity

    • Growing need for holistic healing approaches

  • Unique Perspective: A physician's healing journey and self-discovery as a healer

Our Protagonist

A woman wearing a white coat with a nametag, standing in front of blue lockers in a school or hospital setting.

Ka Young Park

  • Korean-Canadian physician with a desire for holistic healing

  • Lost her mother at age 27

  • Raised her youngest brother after mother's death

  • Artist, tango dancer, and seeker of beauty and health

  • Core values: Love, Freedom, Beauty, Spirituality, Health

Important Details

The Journey

Three Key Locations:

  1. Toronto - Present day life, family connections

  2. Vancouver - Childhood memories, mother's friends

  3. South Korea - Cultural roots, mother's hometown

Culminating Scene: Family gathering to make kimchi together, passing tradition to the next generation

Visual & Artistic Approach

  • Color Palette: Red, pink and white with silver motifs

  • Style: Intimate, observational cinematography

  • Sound: Original cello compositions mixed with traditional and contemporary elements, operatic arias, tango music

  • Aesthetic: Natural light, close-ups of hands and food, contemplative pacing

Production Timeline

  • Current Stage: Development

  • Q1-Q2 2026: Production begins in Toronto/Vancouver

  • Fall 2026: Korea production

  • Late 2026/Early 2027: Post-production and completion

  • 2027: Festival circuit and distribution

Meet the Team

A woman with dark wavy hair and earrings smiling and looking over her shoulder in front of a brightly colored floral mural.

  • Director

    • Award-winning documentary filmmaker

    • Director of "The Rebound" (Netflix)

    • Expertise in character-driven transformation stories

    • Deep commitment to authentic storytelling

    Shaina Koren Allen is an award-winning documentary filmmaker driven by a simple but powerful belief: you matter, and your story deserves to be preserved. Her acclaimed debut feature "The Rebound," which followed the Miami Heat Wheels wheelchair basketball team, was distributed on Netflix and Delta Airlines while serving as an educational tool in universities nationwide. Her work has been featured on NBC Sports and licensed to major organizations including Google, Major League Baseball, and Toyota, yet her deepest passion lies in preserving the wisdom of purpose-driven individuals whose stories deserve to be told before they're lost forever. Whether creating intimate family legacy films or crafting feature documentaries for wider audiences, Shaina captures the stories that matter most before they disappear.

A woman with long wavy brown hair sitting on a white sofa, wearing an olive green dress and black high-heeled sandals, with her legs crossed and a relaxed expression.

  • Subject & Executive Producer

    • Bringing lived experience and artistic vision

    • Medical background adds unique perspective

    • Committed to using film for community healing initiatives

    Dr. Ka Young Park (Kai) is a Korean-Canadian physician whose understanding of healing comes from both her medical training and profound personal loss. When her mother died in her mid-twenties, she raised her nine-year-old brother while completing medical school. Now practicing medicine in Toronto and providing free care to refugee patients, she faces the reality that her memories of her mother—and her connection to Korean culture—are fading. Her journey back to Korea to learn her mother's kimchi recipe before it's lost forever addresses the universal experience of grief and the immigrant struggle to preserve cultural identity across generations.

Distribution Strategy

Film Festivals

  • Asian diaspora festivals

  • Food and culture festivals

  • Documentary showcases

Community Activation

  • Grief support organization partnerships

  • Cultural preservation workshops

  • Community cooking events

  • Educational screenings at universities

Platform Goals

  • Streaming distribution while maintaining creative control

  • Educational licensing for universities and libraries

Join the team

☆

Join the team ☆

Executive Producer Benefits

A spiral wine cellar with wooden shelves filled with wine bottles. People are standing on the spiral staircase, looking down at a DJ setup and a person speaking into a microphone on the floor below.

$50,000+ Investment Includes:

  • Producer credit

  • Invitation to world premiere and all film events

  • Access to all community activations and workshops

  • Exclusive behind-the-scenes content

  • Press release featuring your support

  • Private screening opportunities for your network

  • Involvement in impact campaign strategy

  • Tax-deductible contribution (pending fiscal sponsorship)

Important FAQs

  • Creating Lasting Impact:

    • Documentary as foundation for Kai's grief support initiative

    • Grief support communities inspired by the film

    • Cultural preservation movement

    • Growing Market: Increased demand for authentic cultural stories

    • Proven Team: Award-winning filmmaker

    • Clear Vision: Well-developed story with committed subject

    • Impact Potential: Film as catalyst for community healing initiatives

    • Tax Benefits: Potential tax deduction through fiscal sponsorship

  • Total Budget: $400,000 - $500,000

    • Development & Pre-production

    • Production (3 locations, multiple shoots)

    • Post-production

    • Music licensing and original composition

    • Festival and distribution costs

    • Impact campaign activation

    Your investment directly supports authentic storytelling that bridges cultures and heals communities

“Every family has a treasure. Maybe we all have the responsibility to discover it, cherish it, and express it.”

— Kai Park

Two women sitting on a balcony overlooking an urban neighborhood with buildings, rooftops, and TV antennas, with a hill and TV towers in the background.

JOIN US

JOIN US

Help us bring this powerful story of love, loss, grief, healing, growth and cultural reconnection to audiences worldwide.

Shaina Koren, Director
shaina@shainakoren.com

Thank you.

“This is my story, my treasure, my expression, my declaration of life.”